Summary

Sonny moving in with Isabel’s family turns out to be a mistake. Sonny plays jazz for hours on end. He buys a record player, plays one section of the record, then plays the same chord or progression over and over on the piano. The family tries to be patient, but they don’t understand his music. Isabel finally says that it isn’t like living with a person at all, but like living with sound. When a letter comes from the school board, stating that Sonny hasn’t been going to school, Isabel’s mother blows up. Sonny realizes he’s been unintentionally torturing the family with his passion for music. He leaves, eventually sending his brother a postcard from Greece.

When the narrator and Sonny next meet, Sonny is a man. The narrator doesn’t like Sonny’s loose and dreamlike manner. The two...