Summary

Back in Max and Diane’s apartment the electricity has gone out and Diane has placed six candles around the living room. She asks Martin if the situation has become bad enough that they should be careful about what they say. Martin responds by telling her that this experience of being in “semi-darkness” and “in the grip of serious threat” is one that humanity has collectively experienced before and its memory has been passed down through generations (64). Diane asks him if he believes that they are in actual danger to which Martin responds by saying that he is talking too much and only speculating.

Martin looks out the window and Diane imagines him having to walk all the way back home to the Bronx. She wonders if anything at all is working normally outside. Her wandering thoughts “soften” her and she thinks of offering...