A thirty-two-year-old man named Walter calls for his almost-three-year-old son, Owen, to follow him up the hill to Hession’s house, which overlooks the Bay Area. Hession is a writer who Walter admires, and he has brought a present for him. Noticing that Owen has dropped Hession’s present, however, Walter asks his son to retrieve the small parcel, and then they continue up the hill. Walter reminds Owen to be a good boy.  Hession’s wife welcomes Walter and Owen in, and Walter sees Hession addressing a group of college students who have come to discuss his poetry, as he is currently the poet-in-residence at their school. As Walter waits to be acknowledged, he thinks to himself that Hession does not remember who he is despite them having interacted in the past, but Hession eventually engages in small talk with Walter, asking what he is up to. Walter explains that he sells out-of-print books. They talk more about Walter’s profession, and he realizes that Hession does seem to remember him but probably feels embarrassed that he has forgotten Walter’s name.  As the atmosphere fizzles out after the students discuss more of Hession’s poems, Walter brings up that his son is holding a present for Hession, a copy of The Ecliptic, which Hession once told Walter he needed. Owen, however, refuses to let his father take the parcel back, and the college students begin to comment on how Owen can’t speak and is a mean child. Walter decides to leave the get-together and pries the parcel away from Owen as they step outside, propping the book against Hession’s door. Owen cries and cries.