The narrator wakes up early and decides to go for a walk. He finds the river to be "weeds" , and he smells "smoked meat" . The narrator tells us that he and his wife have only one working laptop at home, so he doesn't really want to do anything with it. He'd rather "use the money" to buy more bread, he says. He asks if the narrator has decided on a topic for his thesis, and the narrator replies that he's taking his thesis "seriously," meaning that he has no idea what he'll do with the money. He says that he wants to "drift along on deserted islands," which sounds like a fun idea, but he'd still have to eat all of their food, since the islands they're talking about don't exist. He adds that he watched people do this on the Discovery Channel, and that all the people who've found jobs already want to come and live on the island. He is relieved that the search for a job is over, but admits that he was "so unhappy" during the job search, that now "every thing sparks joy." He's sure that his wife will survive being apart from him for a while. He tells her that he used to tremble when he was away from her, but now he just has to focus on his job search. He also has band rehearsals, which makes him shake. He thinks that sometimes his affection for his wife isn't as strong as his love for her. He wonders if she's just shrugging him off.