Protagonist Eddie Livaudais returns from a four-day expedition paddling through the swamp to find his wife furiously peeling shrimp. He hesitates to confess to her, but she already knows, that he’s come home with no sign of their missing son Henry. Her disappointment boils into an argument of how he parents their other son Pete, how he dare come home with no boy and no body and his mind on supper. Eddie pleads with her, swearing that he’d hunted for their boy until he couldn’t stand. He leaves her and walks down to his cousin Lacy’s bar, where his cousin’s wife Andrée promptly administers whisky and liniment and insists he lie down and sleep. Back in the front room, Lacy and some local customers air their pities for Eddie. No one thinks he’ll find his son, even though Eddie insists they come out tomorrow to help him hunt. Eddie wakes up within a couple hours and begins trudging home, despite Andrée’s admonitions that he stay with them. His wife says supper his ready, his favorite, but he doesn’t want any.