Summary

Leda continues to settle into life on her vacation. She wakes up on her first morning after arriving at her rented apartment and decides to go to the beach, so she packs up her day's gear and work materials and heads off in her car. After driving a short way, she finds a place to park, and sets off through a pinewood towards the beach.

The scent of resin as she walks through the pinewood reminds Leda of her childhood: it is "the scent of vacation, of the summer games of childhood" (15). This seemingly lovely memory is tied up with another: a memory of her mother eating pine nuts from crushed pinecones, sharing nuts with Leda's clamoring sisters, but telling the quiet young Leda "not to be so timid: go on, none for you..." (15).

As Leda makes her way through the pinewood to the...