A thirteen-year-old boy befriends the new kid in town, Jimmy Meade. They spend their summer at the lake, and dream of becoming duck hunters. One day, the boys are rock jumping into the canal near their town. Jimmy dives into the canal from one of the pilings, but when he rises to the surface, the narrator knows that something is wrong. The narrator pulls Jimmy out of the water and screams for help. After he arrives home, with Jimmy in the hospital, the boy's father sends him away to a factory job to teach him responsibility. Despite trying to call a few times, the narrator never speaks to Jimmy, but learns from his father that Jimmy is paralyzed. When the boy returns home a year later, he goes to visit Jimmy. who tells him that he wants to go duck hunting. The next day, the boys head out on a friend's boat. Although Jimmy can't shoot, the narrator kills two ducks and cooks them over a fire. The narrator feeds Jimmy the duck as they watch the water together.