Ace in the Hole by John Updike

Ace is probably in his early twenties and living with Evey, his girlfriend. Ace has just been fired from his job and doesn’t want to tell Evey. He drives to his parent’s house which is just down the block from his house. His baby, Bonnie, is a young cute baby that his parents were taking care of while he was at work. He makes his way home while mentally preparing for the confrontation he knows he will have with Evey. Evey wants an explanation of why he got fired. He was parking a ’51 Chevy his boss had just bought and in the process scrapes the car up. He tries to defend his actions as his boss told him to put the car in the hole between two other cars. Evey notes, “you could have looked and moved the other cars to make more room.” Evey explodes at Ace’s nonchalant attitude toward getting fired again. She is fed up with him and ready to move on. Ace moves into a soliloquy proclaiming that they need to have a boy. They end up dancing mainly to allow Ace to deflect the situation.