Chapters 2 and 3 Summary

After his meeting with his wife, Frank returns home to prepare for his trip. Through his morning routine, Frank thinks about his unremarkable past. Frank is an only child who attended military school after the death of his father. Frank attended the University of Michigan for a short time before enlisting in the Marines. Due to a pancreatic illness, Frank never went to Vietnam and was discharged without seeing any combat. Frank returned to the University of Michigan, wrote a book of short stories, and met his ex-wife for the second time at a book signing. Frank and his wife settled in New York, but moved to New Jersey while Frank was working on his second book. However, Frank lost interest in writing his second novel and soon took a job as a sportswriter.

Frank makes a couple of phone calls...