Summary

After Leda has been going to the beach for a few days, she notices a young mother and her small daughter on the beach. They are part of a large extended Neapolitan family that has settled on an area of the beach near her. Leda finds familiar the behaviors and communications of this group: they remind her of the family in which she grew up. They are noisy, sometimes quarrelsome, and loud.

Out of this group, Leda focuses in on Nina and Elena, the young mother and daughter, whose names she learns from listening to the others call to them. Nina appears to be about 20 years old and Elena around three or four, and in her arms Elena carries a doll. The pair seem close, and they walk together on the beach talking peacefully to each other while their larger family seems to be...