The narrator had always disliked his uncle, remembering him as a harsh, critical man who constantly found faults with everything he did. When the uncle became seriously ill with cancer, the narrator avoided visiting him until his mother revealed that the dying man repeatedly asked to see him. Feeling obligated, he finally went to the hospital, where his uncle seemed weak and unusually quiet.
During the awkward visit, the narrator noticed an old photograph of his uncle with his children but did not ask about it. A few weeks later, the uncle died. At the funeral, the family gathered for the reading of the will, expecting the inheritance to be divided among the children.
