Summary

The setting of this story is in a county hospital's temporary ward in San Francisco. Three friends — Angela, Dan and Lew — also work at the hospital. Dan and Lew have university degrees, but Angela does not. In their spare time, the three friends are actors and playwrights, performing where they can, like the nearby park during the summer. Angela is bold as an actress but shy when she is off the stage, so Dan urges her to pretend she has degrees in order to give herself more confidence.

During the story, Dan and Lew also have control of the intercom and call names of doctors from history and literature, each a code word signifying something to Angela, even if only as words of encouragement.

Angela is a social worker at the hospital. Her job is to find longer-term care for the...