Summary

Lucia, Richard, Evelyn: Upstate New York. After storytelling, Evelyn and Marcelo quickly fall asleep. Richard takes a hot shower and prepares to sleep himself, becoming aware of an intensifying attraction to Lucia who, much to his dismay (and his excitement), decides to sleep in the same bed. Narration comments on Richard’s nervousness (“Any variation in his routines gave him insomnia, especially if he did not have his hypoallergenic ergonomic pillow” (179), nervousness that leads to what he thinks is a bout of noisy, smelly food poisoning. Lucia calms him down, saying that neither she nor Evelyn is suffering in the same way: it is, she says, just nerves. Richard calms down enough to return to bed, uncertain about how much he will sleep in the midst of his suddenly deepening feelings for Lucia. He does, however, manage to sleep soundly, waking up...