Section 1 Summary

The short piece of prose at the beginning describes a day yet to begin. The sun has not risen but it is getting lighter and the birds are beginning to sing. From this scene, we can presume it is around 6 am.

The story begins by introducing each character one by one, with a line of monologue. As the short monologues continue, we understand from such lines as 'Look at the spider's web on the corner of the balcony,' said Bernard. 'It has beads of water on it, drops of white light,' that each character is muttering their observations of an early morning. The characters are still young and their monologues are simple and innocent observations.

It soon becomes apparent that the children are playing outside in the grounds of their day school. Louis's is the first monologue we follow in detail...