Here They Are
- As the story takes off, a young man is attempting to stash luggage in the compartment of a train. Trying to maintain his balance on the moving train, he takes eight minutes to arrange two suitcases and a hatbox in the corners of the compartment… maybe for reasons other than balance, Parker hints.
- He sits down opposite a young woman, who is wearing brand new clothes and shoes. She turns her attention from the window to him.
- They make a bunch of expressions of relief, with a sense of settling-in—they say "Well!" a lot.
- It quickly becomes clear they've just been married—less than three hours earlier, in fact.
- After the wife says it must be only three hours since they were married, the husband says it's actually just two hours and twenty-six minutes. The wife says that it feels longer. Uh oh.
- After the husband says the nights are going to be longer—because it's going to get darker earlier—the wife says that she feels sort of disoriented after this whole wedding thing, and after seeing all these people. She says she can't imagine how people "do it every day."
- The husband asks her what she means, and she says she's talking about marriage—all the people in China or wherever, getting married and everything.
- Well, says the husband, let's not worry about all those other people. But the wife keeps worrying, saying that she couldn't help imagining all those people doing it—getting married, she says she means—all the time. It's like, what's going to happen next?
- The husband says they both know what's going to happen next… and it'll be great. Right?
- The wife keeps fretting about all the people who get married and it doesn't turn out well, but the husband says this isn't a great way to start their honeymoon.