Part 3, Time and the Mississippi River, 1916 Summary

Chapter 15 - The narrative voice returns to that of Howard Hutchings. He describes how his father spends most of his time during the family's visit talking with Delphine. At the same time, Howard spends most of his time talking with Grandma Tilly, or rather, listening to her as she tells the story revealed in the middle section of the book. "She handed over the past like a parcel," Howard comments in narration, "seizing these days to do it." He also comments on her suggestion that time is like a river, that it only flows in one direction, by suggesting that she has caused time to move in reverse ... that she took him into the past.

On the day before Howard and his family are to leave for home, he and Tilly spend one...