Each day, after searching and failing to find jobs, two unnamed, unemployed boys go to the city center to ride the elevators in the tallest buildings. On this day, a security guard turns them away before letting two European boys enter the building without resistance.

With no money, the two boys go to Salisbury Park to sit on the benches until night falls and they can go home to sleep. One boy falls asleep on the bench, leaving the other to contemplate why he loves riding the elevators. The narrator observes, “He was tired of the whole circling process of his thoughts, so tired that he wanted movement—any movement, to feel that he was going somewhere and not just stationary” (105).

Annoyed with his companion’s restlessness, the sleepy boy moves to a different bench. The other boy reflects on the physical and emotional space between them, concluding that they are “not friends. Not quite friends” (106).