Summary

In Part 1, the first time Owen met Alma at a party, he told her he had a fraught relationship with Kentucky. He explained that being home made him want to leave and being away made him “homesick for a place that never was” (3). Though he liked talking to her, Owen told himself Alma was just “a pretty girl at a party” (5). When he asked, Alma said she was from a “country that no longer exist[ed]” (5).

Owen was living with his grandfather, Pop, and uncle Cort on the edge of Louisville. He had been homeless previously, and was trying to get back on his feet (7). He was now taking classes and working “as a groundskeeper” at Ashby College (7).

When he got home from the party, Owen jotted observations and thoughts from the night. He read Walt Whitman before sleeping.

The next day, Pop...