Gene Forrester, the story's first person narrator, tells of his return to Devon, the stately New England school he attended fifteen years prior. As he walks the grounds he notes with disapproval that the buildings are now preserved with a glossy varnish, lending an unreal, museum-like quality to the campus. Looking back, Gene now understands something of the constant fear that he and his classmates endured then, living as draft-aged young men during the time of the Second World War. His memories heavy upon him, Gene slogs through muddy fields in pouring rain, arriving at a fog-shrouded river. There, he locates a significant tree from his youth, identifying it by certain scars on its trunk and by its one large branch, which stretches out over the water. Gene marvels at how this tree, which ... (read more)