 It is set outside the former family home, which the Old Man's father had drunkenly burned down, leading him to kill his father as the building perished.The Boy is skeptical about tales of his family's former grandeur, and is repelled by the Old Man's story of losing his own mother as she gave birth to him, and the decline subsequent events wrought on the family.Tonight, the Old Man tells the Boy, is the anniversary of his mother's wedding night.