Summary

Bill and Emmy return to New York, where twenty-six-year-old Emmy begins practicing ballet obsessively. Bill makes an effort to resurrect the successful playwrighting career he had in his early twenties, but the physical strain of alcohol, cigarettes, and coffee is more difficult now that he is in his thirties. Emmy’s health and vitality, compared to Bill’s increasing exhaustion, marks a change in their relationship, with Bill growing increasingly dependent on Emmy, growing “to need her more than she needed him” (448).

One day, Emmy comes home from ballet rehearsal with big news to share with Bill: she has been offered to make her début at the Metropolitan, this season. Bill responds to this news with news of his own: despite tendencies toward hypochondria, this most recent trip to the doctor offered conclusive X-ray evidence that his left lung “is practically gone...