The story opens with a conversation between a thirty-year-old man and his friend, who has just returned from a long absence. The man tells his friend that he has missed a number of calls because he was "extremely sober" the day before. He also says that he hasn't spoken with his family in a long time, and that sometimes he admires his friend's "expressionless" behavior. He asks the friend if he can wake him up in the morning, and the man replies that he doesn't want him to have to answer any questions about his past. He says that some things have "gone forever" and that it would be better to talk about "the kind of topics" that "make people argue" .