Nighttime
- In the residence hall at Mercer College, English major Clara Lee is working on her senior thesis, a paper about Australian slang.
- This budding scholar isn't without her own share of family problems. Her father doesn't approve of her major and thinks her thesis topic is even less dignified, and Clara finally got so ticked that she moved out of her parents' house and into the dorms.
- The academic drama continues with Clara's friend, Jessaline O'Harris, who's majoring in linguistics even though her real passion is cooking. The campus cook has even started mentoring her, giving her a copy of The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook.
- Jessaline studies linguistics purely to please her parents—she feels like she's betraying her parents by reading cookbooks when she should be studying, but continues to read on.
- At the boarding house where he lives, Lonnie reads a biography of Emily Brontë, his favorite writer. Actually, she's more than just a favorite writer—he's kind of got a fanboy crush on her. Back at Chez Samson, Lily is having nightmares about her domestic duties, interspersed with visions of school stud Daniel Steadman.
- Lily's grandparents are also asleep, with her grandmother, May, dreaming about her best friend, Sef, from the children's home where she grew up, and how Sef longed to have a special celebration.
- She wakes up and tells her husband, Stan, to make sure he mows the lawn the next day. He says he hears her, but is really distracted because he can't remember the color of his mom's eyes.