The twenty-two years after Will left Cantrell

The twenty-two years after Will Robie left Cantrell form a long interval of separation rather than a clean break: he builds a life elsewhere, but his father and former home remain unresolved presences. His return brings that distance into the open, as the son who has not seen his father in more than two decades must face him under the shadow of a murder charge.

Departure and the life that followed

After arriving on the East Coast, Will Robie’s life changed drastically. He had hoped to begin a new life with Laura Barksdale, but that hope did not come to pass; he arrived alone, confused, and angry. The period therefore begins not with a settled new beginning but with a failed expectation and an uncertain one.

A confluence of events saved his life and propelled him toward the career he would later have. That work demanded secrecy, and its constraints prevented him from contacting his father or considering a return to his old home. The separation was not simply forgetfulness: although he thought of his father several times over the years, the conditions of his work kept those thoughts from becoming contact.

Estrangement and memory

By the time the novel turns back toward Cantrell, Robie has not seen his father for more than twenty years. The length of the absence gives their impending reunion a force beyond ordinary homecoming. When Robie learns that his father may be dead, the thought of his father’s hard, unrelenting face surges back into his mind; Blue Man’s words bring memories he had not considered for a long time charging at him from all sides.

The passage of years has not resolved the relationship. Before seeing his father, Robie is more frightened by that prospect than by almost anything else. His fear makes the reunion a personal ordeal even amid the practical urgency of returning to Cantrell: the long silence has preserved the bond as a source of dread rather than making it disappear.

Return after twenty-two years

Robie finds that the town appears little changed, though he recognizes that this impression cannot be entirely true. The most consequential change is that his father is in jail for murder. Robie drives toward the town’s stockade, conspicuous in a shiny rental among dusty pickup trucks and older cars, and draws the attention of locals who seem unused to newcomers.

When he finally sees his father, Robie looks away while his father continues to stare, his expression inscrutable. After the van carrying his father is gone, Robie remains on the street looking at the place where the older man’s face had been. He feels as though he is living someone else’s life, unable to reconcile his twenty-two years away with the fact of being back in Mississippi. The period closes not with an account of reconciliation, but with the return of the estrangement to immediate view: father and son have met again, while the old distance and the new murder accusation remain.