Pete Hamill’s “The Yellow Ribbon”

Summary

On their way to Florida by bus, a group of six friends noticed a silent and strange old man
named Vingo. He stayed immobile throughout the trip, as if he was frozen into some personal
cocoon of silence. He never left his seat, even when everybody else did whenever the bus
stopped by a Howard Johnson’s. Out of curiosity, one of the six friends, a girl, tried to initiate
a conversation with him and ended up acquainting him. She found out that Vingo had been in
jail for four years and he was on his way back home at that time. He had left behind his
beautiful wife Martha, to whom he wrote that he would understand if she wanted to let him
go. His letter remained unreplied for three and a half years, so he wrote to her again when he
was sure that his parole was coming through. In that letter, he told her to put a yellow
handkerchief on a famous tree on their hometown if she would receive him back home, but
leave the tree as it was if she wouldn’t. The girl told her friends Vingo’s story, which made
them excited. As the bus went closer and closer to the old man’s hometown, they waited for
the tree to come into sight. To their surprise, the tree was covered with yellow handkerchiefs
too many to count. Stunned and touched, Vingo slowly made his way off the bus and walked
home.