Chapter 2 Summary

Sub-Novel

There are two main characters in the sub-novel: the man and woman. Clandestine meetings occur between them and the relationship is in its infancy. The woman is described as "nervous." She is married but he is single.

Details are dropped into the narrative like toppings on an ice cream sundae - the color of the woman's dress, the kind of tree that sits outside her bedroom window - and these things will be clues to the identities of the man and woman later on. Additionally, news clips, interspersed between vignettes, keep readers on a linear time path with the main novel. Also in this chapter are stories within stories. The woman and man meet several times and in varied places: over lunch, in a park, at night under a bridge.

The first time, the man and woman get together over lunch; readers...