The One-In-A-Million Boy

In a moment that occurs prior to the novel’s main timeline, Miss Ona Vitkus, who is 104 years old, tells the story of her life in a series of interviews conducted by a young boy. As she answers his questions, she feels strange about telling her story in such a systematic fashion and insists that life stories usually don’t begin at the beginning. Still, she confirms that she was born in Lithuania in 1900; all that she recalls from those early years are some horses, cows, and cherry trees. She also remembers taking a long ship ride to the United States.

The narrative shifts forward in time to the present day as Quinn, the boy’s father, arrives at Ona’s house to fill her bird feeders and take care of her yard—just as his son did before he died. Quinn fulfills his late son’s obligations to Ona but does not have the heart to tell Ona the truth about the boy’s death, so he lies and claims that his son can’t come to visit today. Ona is suspicious of Quinn and watches him through the window. She then invites him inside for cookies and notices that Quinn is wearing a jacket that is almost identical to his son’s.