Our Evenings

Content Warning: The section of the guide includes discussion of death, racism, and substance use.

It is 2016. Dave is writing another book and is secretive about it, not even telling Richard what it is about. Richard thinks it is a memoir. Dave finally confesses over dinner with their friends Ken and Edie that the book is mainly about his early life and his mother. Later, he tells Richard that his working title is “Our Evenings” (448). For his research, Dave pores over old issues of The Hive, the Bampton student magazine, that his mother saved in a box.

Dave is rehearsing a new play. When Britain votes in a referendum to leave the EU, Dave is dismayed. On television, he watches Giles, a firm proponent of Brexit who is delighted to be on the winning side.

Dave and Richard drive to Foxleigh to supervise the sale of the contents of Avril’s house and then the house itself. Avril’s longtime friend Jane Mew stops by to help. They pull out a longyi, a traditional Burmese hip wrap, that Dave has not seen for 50 years; he quizzes Jane about whether his mother ever talked about Burma and what happened there all those years ago.