The Candy House

Bix wants to have a deep conversation about life with Lizzie, who is nursing their youngest son, George. Bix recalls the existential conversations of their youth with their friends and craves the discussion. After Lizzie and George go to sleep, Bix breaks his company rules and walks around New York City alone. He’s relieved that no one seems to recognize him. When they first started dating, Lizzie was in college and Bix was in his PhD program, and Lizzie kept him a secret from her parents because he is Black. At the time, Bix tried not to let it bother him because he was creating what would become social media. Now that he’s successful and married to Lizzie with children, he enjoys a closer relationship with his mother-in-law. Their existential conversations stopped when two of Lizzie’s friends went swimming in the East River, and one drowned, an event Bix tries but struggles to recall on his walk.

Bix enters the subway for the first time in 10 years. He sees a poster advertising a lecture by the anthropologist Miranda Kline, known as MK. Bix is a fan of her book, even though she’s against the uses of his technology.