One day on the beach, I spotted, walking solemnly along the sand, like two seabirds ready to take flight, two young girls, two young women, really, whom, because of their unfamiliar appearance and style, their haughty and deliberate gait, I took for two foreigners I’d never see again; they weren’t looking at anyone and didn’t notice me.
-- Narrator (Page 2)

Importance: These are the opening lines of the story, and they immediately introduce the subject matter that will pervade the rest of the narrative – the young girls. Here, the narrator shows his observant nature, deducing from the way the girls are dressed that they are not native to the town. That the girls did not notice him is significant because he will soon develop the desire to be recognized by them in any capacity.

Although not everyone in their milieu was so elegant, of course, the chance grouping of these girls...
-- Narrator (Page 2)