Honor Summary

This story from the post-World War I era is a flesh-and-blood depiction of the "lost generation," those adults sandwiched between two world wars who never quite found a direction in life and were "lost." It opens with the narrator, Buck, giving his employer one day's notice that he's leaving, as he realizes that he "never learned to do anything" because his college career was cut short by his enlistment as an aviator when war broke out and everyone rushed to get in on the great adventure. The narrator recites his post-war years as a test pilot, a gambler, car salesman and wing-walker in a barn-storming circus. His partner in these aerial acrobatics is Howard Rogers, a decent man and excellent pilot who is married to Mildred. The three form a sort of family, as the Buck comes often to their house for dinner...