Washingtonia starts when the giraffe's heart can no longer be heard. Washingtonia is an alternative name for Athens, a place where people, like animals, fall into summertime sadness because of the heat. Washingtonia is the only palm tree whose heart is not devoured by the red beetle. Because its heart is small and dry and no one likes small and dry hearts.
Maxwell lives with his cat Eleanor Cumpene and is secretly in love with Johnny. Michel is a hypochondriac and suicidal art critic, who is obsessed with Lucy, the girl who abandoned him.
