Chapter 6 Summary

Howie is feeling like stating his feelings frankly: he really cannot resist his sentimentality. He resists thinking of the escalator in a sentimental light, telling himself that they are quite ordinary and remains the same for some time. Yet other things in his life have undergone dramatic change and altered his life in subtle and complicated ways. For instance, he no longer enjoys drinking from milk cartons, and the carton he bought at Papa Gino's is purchased only to see if he can regain his old childhood pleasure. He loved that pleasure because it was associated with the first time he could remember milk cartons in the store, alongside other mundane items.

The previous system of milk-delivery had also fascinated him as well, however. This memory is tied to the former one. His focus on the milk bottles informs him that the milk-delivery...