Jim, an anthropology professor at a university, stands at the boathouse ready to take one of the boats on the water while recalling his days as a rower in college. The university attendant helps him get the boat on its way, and Jim starts rowing only to feel fatigue in his arms rather quickly. His mind drifts off to an incident during his anthropology class the day before, when a student mockingly answered his serious question. He had gone home to his wife to complain about his humiliation from the incident, and she had suggested that he “work it out on the river.” Continuing his rowing, Jim flashes back to another memory where he had encountered natives from New Guinea during a research trip, who made him feel alienated and cautious.  As the waves grow stronger, Jim feels increasingly tired and notices some teenage boys on the bridge above him. They spit on him as he passes, and he rows to get away faster. He begins to panic as his coordination fails him and the current takes over his boat. As the boat approaches a dock with too much speed, Jim suddenly sees a young boy in front of him. Miraculously, the boy deflects Jim’s boat from smashing into the dock.  Jim thinks about instances when he had become an “eccentric” in society, thinking back again to his times in New Guinea and of another instance in America. People, mostly adults, had judged him for going against the common culture, but he noted how children were comparatively accepting. He asks the boy to help him turn the boat around so he can return to the boathouse. The way back is rather quick and by the end of the trip, Jim feels elated. He finds himself singing a song and feels a new satisfaction from the workout on the river.