Content Warning: This section contains a brief mention of suicide. 

Jason Cashman is a magician whose stage name is Prospero. A biographer wants to interview him just before a big show. Jason agrees to answer a few questions. The biographer asks why Jason has two reserved seats in the front row. They are not for Jason’s family; they are for two of his old friends. He starts to tell his biographer the story of how he befriended Murray McBride and Tiegan Rose Marie Atherton.

The narrative jumps back in time by 20 years to Murray McBride’s 100th birthday. It is 1997. Murray has grown tired of life, primarily because his wife, Jenny, died 18 months ago. Each morning, he takes one pill, without which his lungs would fill with fluid and he would die. Otherwise, he is remarkably healthy for his age. Murray visits his doctor, Dr. Keaton, for his annual physical exam. He jokes that he is going to stop taking his pill on the 22nd of that month. His doctor worries about his unwillingness to socialize outside of occasional modeling work for advertisements. He suggests that Murray model for a local life drawing class and emphasizes how important it is for Murray to find a reason to live, or else he is “going to die a pathetic old man” (22).