Summary

In 1936 or 1937, Vasili Ivanovich, a representative working for the narrator, won a "pleasure trip" (80). Disinterested in going away, Vasili Ivanovich tried selling his ticket. Getting rid of the ticket proved too complicated, so he "decided to go" and readied himself for the journey (80).

The night before he was meant to leave, Vasili Ivanovich could not sleep. His watch ticked into his dreams. He also had begun to think that the trip, suddenly given to him by "a feminine Fate," might bring him some mysterious sense of happiness (80). Though the looming promise of happiness was undefined, Vasili Ivanovich assumed it would grant him a feeling similar to childhood, to reading Russian poetry, to watching a skyline from a dream, and to loving the woman "he had hopelessly loved for seven years" (81). Perhaps this coming happiness, he had begun to believe, would be richer than...