Miss Eula Kirk is an elderly woman who, after suffering some heart troubles, left St. Louis for West Frankfort, Illinois. She stays at the Buckner, a hotel where it is rumored that Abraham Lincoln frequents. She makes friends with another elderly woman, Miss Smight. Over the series of a few days, Miss Kirk tells her friend her life story: how she worked at the same place for forty-three years. The story ends, and Miss Smight starts telling Miss Kirk her own story, but her story is spicier: it involves her long list of young male lovers. Miss Kirk is discomfited but intrigued. She imagines herself within the stories, experiencing Miss Smight’s memories as though they were her own. At one point, Miss Kirk changes hotels, but she comes back to see her friend. Sitting there, sewing, Miss Kirk envisions something that may be real or may be fiction: herself licking a young boy’s shoulder and being approached by a tall man who begins to lean into her, falling, forever.