Ed is a man who lives in the American South after the Civil War. After his father dies, Ed is the one who is charged with visiting his elderly aunt, Warrior Princess Ozimba, every year on her birthday to give her a new pair of tennis shoes. He stops by the house and she is quiet for a while before she tells him a story of how she used to dance with Ed’s father. Unfortunately, Aunt Zimby has dementia, so she begins to think that Ed is his father; she starts calling the son Will. Ed stays until Aunt Zimby sleeps, and he leaves her shoes with the housekeeper. But she rouses once more to comment on the beautiful fluttering birds, addressing him as Mr. Will, and he knows it’s wrong to not pretend like he’s his father, as much as it hurts him.