Avey Johnson packs hurriedly, energized by the impulsive decision to leave her cruise ship at its next port. She packs in a messy, haphazard fashion, abandoning her typically organized manner. Meanwhile, she glances behind nervously, something she had been doing since the day before. Avey struggles to remain quiet, worried that she might wake her travel mates, Thomasina Moore and Clarice, in the next room. As she moves about the room in a panic, Avey thinks of the wood floors she had years ago, the ones her husband, Jerome, recovered and stained—she hadn’t thought about them in many years.

Avey has six suitcases to repack. She remembers how her youngest daughter, Marion, could not contain her exasperation the first time she picked her mother up before her first cruise. Marion was always critical of Avey’s decision to go on cruises but learned to keep her thoughts to herself after noticing her mother’s resolve to continue taking cruises. Avey’s oldest, Sis, had encouraged her mother to go on the trip, and Annawilda, her middle child, agreed, hoping it would take Avey’s mind off Jerome’s death the year before.