Summary

The narrator, Frederick Barrandov Junior, opens the story by declaring that he is an “inadequate son” (277). His father was once imprisoned for three years for repairing the broken clockfaces of several towers that, it seems, the government wanted to remain in a state of disrepair. His mother also helped him in this project. After repairing them, Freddy’s father left the clock towers open for anyone to move in. Nowadays they work for the Hotel Glissando’s maintenance team.

After Freddy turns 33, his mother has a serious conversation with him about his future and asks him to quit his job at the nursery and join the team at Hotel Glissando: “She wants to see good hearts and good brains put to proper use, but I’m not convinced that everybody ought to live like that or even that everybody can” (282). The...