Edna Price

 and her husband, Arliss, rent a room to Jake Epping while he is visiting Holden, Kentucky. She is a strict Southern Baptist.

Edna asks Jake what he is doing in town. He says he is a writer. She immediately asks if he is a communist because she thinks all writers are communists. He denies her accusation. Edna informs him she is a good Christian woman and reads The Saturday Evening Post and Arliss is partial to Field and Stream.

Jake says he will only be there for three days, but she says she will have to charge him the full weekly rate of three dollars - in advance. Edna tells him there are to be no girls or food in his room.