Goodbye Columbus

Lou Epstein sits in bed one night and listens as he believes his daughter, Sheila, and her hippie boyfriend come in and have sex in the living room. To distract himself, he lets his mind wander. He thinks of how he and his wife, Goldie, are aging and how her body is so different from when they met. He thinks of his company, Epstein Paper Bag, and his impending retirement. He laments that he has no heir, his son having died at the age of 12 from polio, and that his estrangement from his brother, Sol, precludes even his nephew Michael taking over. Michael is staying with them, having recently been stationed at the nearby Fort Monmouth. He is out this night on a date with a girl from across the street. Not wanting to listen to the sounds of sex anymore, Lou goes downstairs to confront his daughter and her boyfriend, but he finds instead that it is Michael and the neighborhood girl having sex in the living room. He watches briefly before sneaking back upstairs. They soon leave, but Sheila and her boyfriend come in again after, and the noise starts all over again.