Gary is the story’s protagonist. When the story begins, he is 90 years old and lives in a nursing home in Castle Rock, Maine. Gary was a teacher until he was 65, and for 20 years he wrote a column called “Long Ago and Far Away” for the Castle Rock newspaper Call (45).

When the story opens, he is losing his short-term memory—he forgets his great granddaughter’s name, for example—but he remembers every detail of his meeting with the man in the black suit.

As a child, Gary is helpful and obedient. He completes the chores his father assigns to him before going fishing. He keeps his promise to his parents not to go beyond the fork in the stream, addressing them as “sir” and “ma’am,” respectively (47-48).

At the stream, Gary shows himself to be quick-witted and calm under pressure. When the bee lands on his nose, he does not swat it away wildly but stays still and carefully blows at it using his lower lip. When the strange man approaches him, Gary immediately realizes he is not human and guesses that the man is the Devil after smelling sulfur.