Summary

The narrator and his wife, Lerice, bought a farm 10 miles outside Johannesburg in an effort to change. They thought the farm might afford them some quiet in their marriage. Farm life only created other unpredictable circumstances. The narrator thought Lerice would get tired of the work and return to amateur acting. Instead, she became invested in "the business of running the farm" (7). The hard work gradually altered her demeanor and appearance.

The narrator worked at a travel agency, and was only home "in the evenings" and on weekends (7). Despite his detachment, the narrator thought farm life was beautiful. On Sundays, when people came to visit, he found himself showing them around, exclaiming at how much better country life was. Their guests exclaimed, too, jealous that the narrator and Lerice had escaped "the tensions of the damned city" (8). The narrator pretended to agree, as...