Summary

In the little town of Walley, near the Peregrine River, an optometrist named D.M. Willens drowned in 1951. His optometrist case sits in a local museum.

In Part I, "Jutland," three young boys, Cece, Jimmy, and Bud, walked to Jutland for a swim. They also liked going to Jutland to find peculiar objects. Once out of town, they stopped using their real names, or their nicknames. At Jutland they often made plans, and invented ideas. On this particular spring day, the boys did not expect to find Mr Willens's car sunken into the water, his body arranged in an odd position.

On their way home "they walked fast" (12). Because it was midday, everyone would be "walking home for dinner" (12). They did not want to greet anyone. Before parting, the boys agreed they would reconvene after dinner. Then they would go "downtown to the...