When the boys and girls got on the bus early in the morning, they noticed Vingo, who sat in front of them, staring at a photo, completely in silence. At noon, the bus pulled into Howard Johnson's, a service area, and everybody got off the bus except Vingo. The youngsters began to wonder about him. When they came back, one of the girls sat beside him and introduced herself.
"Want some drink?" she asked.
Vingo smiled and thanked her and became silent again.
Late in the afternoon, they stopped at another Howard Johnson's, and this time Vingo went out. The girl insisted that he join them. He followed them to a restaurant and ordered a cup of black coffee and some cookies. When they returned, the girl sat with Vingo again. After a while, slowly and painfully, he began his story and told her that he had been in prison for the past four years, and now he was going home.
"Are you married?" asked the girl.
"I don't know," he said softly.
"You don't know?"
"Well, when I was in prison I wrote to my wife," he said, "I told her that I was going to be away for a long time, and that if she couldn't stand it, if the kids kept asking questions, and if it hurt her too much, she could just forget me. I'd understand. I told her she didn't have to write to me. And she didn't. Not for three and a half years."
"And you're going home now, not knowing?"
"Yeah. Well, last week, I wrote to her again. We used to live in Brunswick and there's a big oak (橡树) tree just as you come into town. I told her that if she didn't have a new man and if she'd take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief on the tree and I'd get off and come home. If she didn't want me, forget it--no handkerchief and I'd go on through."
"Wow," the girl burst out, "Wow!"
She told the other youngsters, and soon all of them were in it.
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Vingo handed the photo to the youngsters.
……
Vingo sat there, staring at the oak tree as a statue.
