An unnamed boy lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his two older siblings, Aunt Grace, Uncle Jake, and his parents. Aunt Grace is his mother's sister and a divorcee, while Uncle Jake is the boy's father's brother whose wife and daughter had passed away. Aunt Grace stayed with them for six months after her divorce while she sought a job and residence elsewhere, eventually finding something in Birmingham. The boy and his older brother, who's name is Brother, accompanied her to the train station to see her off. The boy still thought about his aunt as they resumed their lives without her. She had had an infectious laugh and had always been cheerful. Though she was only five years younger than the boy's father, she was youthful in spirit, getting along well with Virginia Ann, the boy's teenage sister. Virginia Ann only talked about her romantic involvements with Aunt Grace, rather than in her mother. The boy's mother and father were very talkative, but only to each other. One Thanksgiving, the family planned to go to the annual football game. Brother was old enough to go with them this year, and Virginia Ann was planning on going with Bill Evers, a boy she liked, so the young boy was going to stay home alone. His family set out for the game, expecting Bill Evers to arrive after they'd gone. The boy heard Bill come in the house and expected them to leave right after, but he heard them talking in the living room. It started to rain, which he surmised was the reason why they stayed home. Wanting to give them privacy, he kept out of there, going to the kitchen and then up to his room. He then heard the couple go silent, which was unusual in a house that had almost always been full of noise. The boy heard his family come home early due to the rain. When his father saw Virginia Ann and Bill necking in the living room, he was very upset and sent Bill home immediately. Uncle Jake and Brother came upstairs and Uncle Jake told the boy that he wanted him to come to the Thursday night scout meeting, for which Brother was old enough to be a member and Uncle Jake was scout master. When they went to the meeting, the boy tried to follow along, but after a while he was lost. He noticed his uncle seems different in his role as scout master and his brother and the other boys, who he had recognized from around town, seemed like strangers, too. It was the same way that he no longer recognized his sister when she was with a boy, or how his parents and Aunt Grace went into their own little worlds when they were either in conversation or heartily laughing, respectively. The boy realized that everyone in his family had, in one way or another, found their purpose in life.