How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
In the kitchen, he poured another drink and looked at the bedroom suite in his front yard. The mattress was stripped and the candy-striped sheets lay beside two pillows on the chiffonier. Except for that, things looked much the way they had in the bedroom—nightstand and reading lamp on his side of the bed, nightstand and reading lamp on her side. (1)
This is the first reference to alcohol in the story—and it's also the first line. So it doesn't take long for Carver to make clear that alcohol is at the center of this dude's life right now.
Quote #2
He considered this as he sipped the whiskey. (3)
The older man is drinking whiskey while staring out at the contents of his house, which have been strewn all over the lawn. As we move through the story, we find he's usually not far from a glass of booze.
Quote #3
The man came down the sidewalk with a sack from the market. He had sandwiches, beer, whiskey. He saw the car in the driveway and the girl on the bed. He saw the television set going and the boy on the porch. (40)
The story makes a time jump, and suddenly we're with a young couple that's checking out the furniture on the lawn and trying to figure out what they want to purchase. While they're in the middle of that, the older guy returns from the market, where—you guessed it—he's been buying alcohol.