On the porch, on a blue night, the papa tells a story and her daughter listens. Instead of telling her his usual jokes, he asks if she’s ready to tell a true story. He recalls how, as a boy, when he was still in chains and doing a man’s job, he and the other boys ran out to an orchard on the edge of the property to get some apples. They climb a fence and eat several apples, which are all delicious. Soon enough, they hear the barking of dogs, which causes them to run while the dogs chase them. Climbing the fence, the papa gets stuck, but looking up, he sees a sky full of shooting stars. All the while, the daughter closes her eyes, trying to imagine the sight of it. There, on the fence, the papa is both fearful and awestruck at what he’s seeing. He says that because of the night of the shooting stars, in 1833, some people have a change in their hearts, but for him, he believes he saw it in a way no one else had. Now, the daughter gets up from the porch and looks out at the sky. She sees a shooting star much bigger than any other and greets it.