Summary

At the outset of “Summer 1977”, Richard Gunderson visited his friend Lark. Lark, whose full name was Cornelius Larkson, was a retired logger who ran a Sasquatch tourist attraction on his property. The older man had been a surrogate father to Rich, after his biological father died in a logging accident. Lark informed Rich that Jim Mueller was selling 24-7 Ridge, a track of land that “his great-granddad had dreamed of buying” (7). Rich promised that he would contemplate purchasing the land but was unsure of how he would afford the down payment. He knew that he could use the savings he set aside to build a new addition on the house, now that his wife, Colleen, had lost the baby and they would not need to expand for a larger family. Later on, Colleen set aside her crossword puzzle to drive her sister, Enid...