Now

The man holding the hose keeps fit by cycling early in the morning and sometimes late at night, after his wife has gone to bed. The man, Lionel, lives on the east coast. He has a satisfactory life, well ordered, and likes to think there is nothing he cannot handle. Lionel has always been a thinking man, clever enough to extract himself from the sweat and toil of being a boilermaker. He will be retiring soon from his highly paid public-service administration job.