Clerk

The drugstore clerk orders the woman to clean up the mess she has made after she writes "Eyes of a blue dog" on the floor with lipstick.

Narrator

The narrator of the story is both the speaker, from whose perspective the reader experiences the story, and the dreamer, whose mind is creating the environment into which the woman enters. Like the woman he desires, the narrator seems quite lonely, unable to find the object of his desire in real life or even touch her in his dream. The fact that he does not touch her despite his repeated desire to do so, his indistinct and puzzled knowledge of her and their history, and the cold that had given him "the certainty of [his] solitude" all emphasize this loneliness. Also, the narrator's ability to see the woman just as well when he is facing the wall and his inability...