Noah's Evening Routine

Noah Calhoun, a thirty-one-year-old war veteran, sits on the porch of his restored plantation-style home in New Bern, North Carolina, watching the sunset. He has spent the day repairing the fence on his twelve-acre property adjacent to Brices Creek. After a shower, he puts on faded jeans and a blue shirt, pours himself sweet tea, and returns to the porch with his guitar. He strums and sings softly as night falls, then settles into his rocking chair to look at the stars. His three-legged hound dog, Clem, joins him. Noah reflects on his loneliness and his past, particularly the summer of 1932 when he fell in love with Allie Nelson. He remembers meeting her at the Neuse River Festival, their whirlwind romance, and her departure at summer's end. He thinks about the letters he wrote that went unanswered and the ghost of her memory that haunts New Bern. He waits for his friend Gus, who does not come, and eventually goes inside to read Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass' before writing in his journal and going to sleep.