George Smith

George Smith factors into the story “In a Season of Calm Weather”. George and his wife are Americans vacationing on the French coast. George longs to own a Picasso painting. He is thrilled to discover Picasso on the beach, drawing figures in sand. George, however, has no way of saving the drawings, and is saddened when the tide comes in.

Camillia Wilkes

Camillia Wilkes is a teenaged girl living in London in 1762 in the story “A Medicine for Melancholy”. Beautiful but suffering from an unknown illness, Camillia believes she is dying. No one agrees from what she suffers until a Dustman advises leaving her out overnight to bathe in the glow of the moon. The Dustman then has sex with her, healing her melancholy.

Martinez

Martinez is a young Mexican-American man in the story “The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit” who, jobless and depressed, longs for a sharp...