Summary
Haven Peck dies in his sleep on the third of May. When his father isn't in the kitchen to greet Robert for breakfast, he knows immediately. Robert finds his father in the barn and says, "Papa, it's all right. You can sleep in this morning." He feeds, waters, and milks Solomon and Daisy and then takes care of some other chores before going inside to tell Mrs. Peck and Aunt Carrie. He puts an arm around each of them and tells them to pack his breakfast because he needs to go into town to see Mr. Wilcox, the county coroner. "Papa won't be coming up for breakfast," he tells them, "Not this morning, and not ever again."
He asks Mrs. Peck if Haven had any good clothes, and she says that he had set them aside some time ago and that she would get them ready. Robert kisses her on the brow, does the same for Aunt Carrie, and then goes outside to yoke Solomon. He rides to town and tells Mr. Wilcox, who is also a good Shaker man, about Haven, and only on the way back does he tell Aunt Matty, Hume, Ira Long, and the Widow Bascom. Upon returning home, Mr. Wilcox is already there helping Mrs. Peck and Carrie prepare. Robert goes back outside to the apple orchard and digs a grave for his father in the family plot.
When that is finished, Robert searches for a chore or anything else to keep him busy until the guests arrive. He remembers that his father had been mending a plowshare in the tackroom the previous day. Robert finds it and works on it until it is time to get ready, almost completely fixing it. On the way out of the tackroom, Robert notices his father's tools and how worn they are with work. The handles of the tools are brown with age, except for the parts where Haven handled them, which have taken on a gilded appearance. Under the tools, Robert discovers an old cigar box. Opening it, he finds an old pencil and a piece of paper where his father had been practicing writing his name. One of the "Haven Pecks" is almost perfect.
Robert leaves the tackroom and goes into the house to get dressed. He doesn't have a suit that fits anymore, so he puts on a pair of his father's black pants and one of his work shirts. Looking at himself in the mirror, Robert thinks that he looks ridiculous and cries out, "Hear me, God. It's hell to be poor!"
At noon, people start arriving. Matty and Hume are the first to arrive, followed by Ira Long and the Widow Bascom, who has just recently become Mrs. Long. Mr. and Mrs. Tanner come next, and Robert greets them by saying, "Thanks for coming, Mr. Tanner." Mr. Tanner responds to this by telling Robert, "I think two men who are good friends ought to front name one another," and he asks Robert to call him Ben from then on. Looking up the road, Robert sees more people arriving. The first are the Hillmans, followed by Isadore Crookshank, Jacob Henry, and his parents. The last to arrive is Clay Sanders, the man for whom Haven slaughtered pigs, along with several of the people that had worked with Haven.
They have a simple service for Haven, at which Robert gives a standard eulogy as instructed by Mr. Wilcox. When they finish, Ira Long and Sebring Hillman lower the coffin into the ground and then fill in the hole. Robert walks back to the house with Mrs. Peck and Aunt Carrie, each missing Haven badly in their own way. When everyone has left, Robert sets about some more chores, tending to a cut on Solomon's eye and so on. Finally the day comes to an end. Dinner is pork and beans, and then Robert sends to bed Mrs. Peck and Aunt Carrie, who have also been doing chores all day to stave off the grief. Robert, however, cannot sleep, and he finds himself walking back toward the orchard. He reaches the grave and think of his father, now possessed by ground that he had worked so hard to possess. "Goodnight, Papa," he says, "We had thirteen good years" and walks away.
