Summary

Ed wakes in the night. He’s in bed at home, next to his wife, Martha. He wakes her up to remind her that Lewis is coming to get him at six-thirty. Martha asks if she’s the reason he’s going on the trip. He says no, but she is ordinary, and so in a way she is just as much the reason as everything else ordinary.

Ed goes to the living room and looks into a mirror. He sees rapid signs of aging. His wife enters and asks if he’s seen Dean, their son. Dean suddenly laughs from where he’s hiding behind piles of Ed’s camping gear that has been piled up the night before in order to be ready for the canoe trip. Dean rises up behind the pile of equipment holding a knife playfully. Ed takes the knife...