Overview

At the Frick Museum in New York City, a young male guard in his first day is so nervous about his ability to meet the requirements that he keeps fortifying himself with pills and cognac. A female guard of long standing reprimands him while encouraging him. She's so immersed in her job she's almost ecstatic about it but it's a mechanical ecstasy. A boy and a girl stroll in looking for pickups. They gravitate to each other instinctively. The two guards' tenuous self control is shaken as these two trendily attired dilettantes - preening and posturing - achieve a coupling which the guards may sneer at, but which they also envy. Consolation lies at hand as defenses fall.