Chapter Two Summary

Rachel relates tales of her life and her marriage. Samstat wonders how people that are married stay happy, and keep things happening to them. It seems to her that once couples marry things stop happening to them. One of the things that used to happen to Rachel and Mark were the constant battles between the couple and the contractors that worked on their multiple dwellings. To Rachel their marriage has been a battle between them against the world, but on the plane to New York Samstat is secretly relieved to be finished with the battles.

Rachel explains her career as a cookbook author and star of a public television cooking show. The cookbooks are more a narrative with recipes thrown in as an afterthought, and the show is more about small gatherings than cooking, but both are popular. Rachel's New York...