While visiting his parents’ home, Henry wakes to a typewritten note from his father stating that he has gone to the movie theater to set up reels. Pretending the typewriter is a telegram, Henry writes back his thanks, says he is happy to be home, and sorry that his parents are getting a divorce. He walks outside and reflects on the seclusion of his parents’—now just his father’s—home, then thinks about his job in Philadelphia at a magazine like The New Yorker, which he was good at but despised. Henry’s father soon returns home and welcomes Henry back again. They talk about how Henry’s father has to show bad, inappropriate movies at the theater because they are all that distributors send him these days. Henry’s father offers him a drink, which Henry refuses, and they begin to talk about the divorce, although Henry is unsure how to ask how his father feels. They squabble a bit, Henry’s father saying that Henry seems to want something from him and expressing his discontentment about how judgemental Henry’s mother is. Henry’s father then concedes and says he is glad Henry has come home for a bit, and they reminisce about when their family first moved to their house. Henry reveals that he has spoken to his mother about also coming back to the house momentarily, which upsets his father, who says that Henry only wants to help himself even though he has no say in their marriage. They apologize to each other, and Henry asks his father to share a drink, but he refuses. His father goes outside, and Henry watches him.