A year before the Georgia Flu, Arthur Leander and his oldest friend, Clark Thompson, arrange to meet for dinner in London while Arthur passes through on the way to Paris and Clark visits his parents. Clark leaves without his phone, gets lost in London’s confusing streets, and arrives late and flustered after a cab driver quickly finds the tucked-away restaurant.

Inside, Clark immediately notices how Arthur has changed: instead of hiding from recognition, Arthur sits where he can be seen. As they greet each other and talk over drinks, Clark feels the disorientation of aging and becomes tense when nearby diners whisper and watch Arthur.

Arthur mentions he is traveling to Paris to see his son, who is there with Elizabeth, and Arthur briefly vents about his miserable year: divorce papers from his third wife and a previous wife taking their son to Jerusalem. The conversation soon drifts away from anything personal or substantive.

As the night goes on and Arthur drinks more, Arthur repeats a practiced line about being “indecently lucky” and launches into showy talk about an endorsement deal, gesturing broadly. Clark notices someone recording Arthur on a phone and realizes Arthur is not sharing a private dinner with a friend so much as performing for an audience.

Disgusted and unsettled by the gap between their youthful past and their present lives, Clark leaves early. Outside in the cold rain, Clark walks without purpose despite knowing the way, thinking about the years that have passed and what they have done to them both.