A one-hundred-year-old man named Old Dalton does his chores around his property one evening, despite his old age. The people who know him know that if he is going to die, it will happen when he is working; he is generally strong and hearty. He often complains about how the world is changing. His wife, who died three months before, was a crotchety woman, but Old Dalton misses her. She died at the age of ninety-three, but Old Dalton is not ready to follow her. He feels like he still has to take care of his property. When he finishes his chores, his grand-daughter, who is married with kids, asks if he is tired, and he snaps at her. He tells her she is being disrespectful. She goes off with her husband to milk the cows and the old man begins to doze off. The granddaughter's husband comes back and helps Old Dalton to his bed. The old man lies awake in bed and feels that it is very cold, even though it is August. He is unable to go to sleep and thinks about the empty space between him and the wall that was once filled with his wife. He suddenly remembers that he didn’t cut any kindling for the morning, so he goes to do so.  As he goes down the stairs, he sees his wife. She has a lost look in her eyes. He is startled, but goes to the wood and begins to cut the kindling anyway. He watches his wife and notices that she looks the same as she did before she died, except for her eyes. He begins to become slightly fearful of her when suddenly she speaks as if a voice is coming through her. She says that trouble is coming and that he ought to be moving on. He suddenly floats up for a second. His longing for his wife disappears and the two voyage off into the afterlife together.