ABSTRACT
On Edgar’s couch is perched a slightly precarious stack of emptypicture frames. “I plan to go to the do-it-yourself frame store soon and spend the day there framing my posters and photographs,” Edgar explains. The chair near the front door holds several shopping bags. “I’ve got to return those to the store.” Edgar’s dining room table serves as his household finance center, complete with heaps of bills to pay, piles of investment material to review, and bunches of bank statements to reconcile. Out in full view is a lamp to rewire, a chair to recane, and a weeder to unsnarl. Short stacks of books and videos line the floor beneath his bay window. “I have to remember to return those to the library,” he explains. Boxes of greeting cards for every occasion, along with gifts to wrap and decorations to put away, take up half the kitchen table.
