In the spring of 1865, Stephen McPherson, recently home from the Danville Civil War prison, finds the bones of a missing young neighbor while out hunting with his brother. Feeling 'as bare as the bones that lay in front of him', Stephen pushes himself to bring the bones back to the boy's family, and realizes something about himself in the process. This short story won an Honorable Mention in the 2005 Writers Digest Short Story Competition.