A boy and his mother look for a new place to live after their stay in a terrible, unfriendly boardinghouse. They shop, dress nicely, and walk around the nearby university district together to start their search. Though they are late, they visit the last apartment of the day and meet the owners, a man called Dr. Avery and his wife. They give their visitors some delicious brownies and shows them around the apartment. The boy notices the warmth of the fireplaces as he listens to Dr. Avery speak bitterly about the university. He suspects that Dr. Avery may have been denied tenure and was thus “sent packing.” The boy falls into a daydream and imagines what it would be like to become a member of this home. His mother calls to him and brings him back to reality, and they walk back out into the cold. The boy imagines his life several years into his adulthood, and he sees a large family and a wife who live in a house with its own firelight.