So why don’t you ever come to any of our high school reunions?’” Marianne asked in one of her messages. How long would it take me to answer that?
-- Frank (Thursday)

Importance: At this point, Frank hesitates to look back. His relationship with the past is careful, considered, tightly maintained. His forthcoming lunch with his old high school, the first girl to whom he wanted to say “I love you” but did not, will begin his weekend-long confrontation with the past he would prefer to ignore. It will be Marianne who introduces Frank to the idea that only in making peace with the past can the future be embraced. His snarky answer to her simple and direct question indicates Frank’s strategy for handling difficult emotional moments. The rhetorical question is his way of hiding. He offers irony that at once says nothing and dismisses as pointless any serious response. He has...