A man arrives in a small Texas town on the Fourth of July along with many other drivers on vacation. The man had driven 200 miles and seen many other cars covered with dust and mud. The man and his friend park their car and walk into a small diner. The man and his friend decide to get lunch at the diner. While they are eating, they watch a family enter the diner. The father asks if anyone knows a man named Bill. The shopkeeper says that he knows two people named Bill and the father continues to describe the Bill he his talking about. The father explains that he used to be in the army with a man named Bill and that Bill sent a letter that he works at a ferryboat now. The shopkeeper replies that the father is looking for Bill Russell, but that Bill is actually not here today. The father calls his family into the diner--his young son, his infant child, and his wife, Jenny. The father explains that they have traveled 800 miles to find Bill because Bill is offering him a job. His wife hobbles in with their infant child on her hip and their young son nearby. The young son, sunburnt from sitting up in the front of his family's car, asks for an ice cream cone. The family begins to order food and the father explains that he doesn't mind waiting for Bill. Jenny, the mother, talks about how her husband used to work at a garage in Holy City where he fixed cars. However, the father's boss used to pick on him and eventually the family received a card from Bill who offered the father a job. As they sit and eat their food, the shopkeeper explains that Bill probably won't be there for awhile and the father attributes this quality of Bill's to what he was like when they were in the army. Other customers ask the family if they plan on riding the ferry, but the father explains that they would rather wait for Bill whenever he returns. The shopkeeper tries to explain that there aren't any more ferry jobs, but the father insists that Bill will find him a job. The shopkeeper begins listing off the logistics of having a ferry job and the people he knows that are currently in those jobs--a man named Jim Herron and his friend Ebee. The father says that he will continue to stay there until Bill returns, but that Bill actually doesn't know that he came to find him. The other customers are hesitant to explain to the family that Bill probably doesn't have a job for him. The infant child wakes up and Jenny goes back to the car to feed the infant. The shopkeeper offers his shed nearby for the family to drive their car under for the night and the father agrees. He orders more food and then goes outside with his young son to drive the car into the shed.