Summary

The story opens at the train station of Sand City, a small town in Kansas. It is winter and nighttime, and a group of townspeople are waiting for the arrival of a train. Most people in the group are men who seem nervous and unsure of what to do. Only one of the waiting men seems sure of what he is doing. This man is named Jim Laird. He stands apart from the group and paces up and down the station platform. A man approaches Jim and says that the train seems to be running late. The men are all waiting for the train because it is bearing a corpse and coffin from the east coast. The train arrives nearly 30 minutes after its scheduled arrival time. The train sounds its whistle as it approaches, and the men wait intently. A large number of teenage...