Summary

The story takes place in the United States in the 1930s on the outskirts of a small town located along the railroad tracks. The engineer of an express train sees a small tidy house from his high seat in the cab as the train passes. The engineer has been riding the same route for twenty years and always looks forward to seeing this house each time he travels this route between two cities.

The house is white with neat green blinds. It is bordered with flowerbeds and has an arbor with grapes that ripen each August. He can see a neatly laid-out vegetable garden and three large oak trees in front that shelter the house from the summer heat. The engineer is able to get a good view of the house and its occupants because his train slows as it approaches...