Deliverance

In the chapter on Arrival we read how Harry, Ben's father took him to his aunt Mary's to spend the summer 'in the rough' in the Gap, a small community at the foot of large mountains; Ben (Henry?) secretly liked it as any healthy teenager likely would.  (Most stories have a largely autobiographical dimension.)

Mary had two younger children of her own, which made things nice for Ben.  The early pages of 'Summer Boy' display a strong (very common) tension between Father and Son; that theme runs through the story.  (Boys and Girls in general find it necessary some time along their lives to forgive their parent, because in this fallen world there has never been an adequate parent; it occurs only in the Great Beyond.

They sat at the breakfast table; his Baptist parents would have required a "long and ornate blessing, but Mary and family confessed in unison "we receive unworthily" (much like a Scout blessing: 'good bread, good meat, good God, let's eat')

Harry was very strict with Ben, but Mary was permissive; she allowed (and encouraged) him to explore the mountains as he wished. Jokingly she  called him a bear, the first of several names he was to acquire in the book.

Mary had a sort of neighbor who lived a long way up Mount Pinnacle: Ethan Owl was close to Mary and glad to see Ben; in fact as the story progresses he became a prime adviser; he was one of the 'spirit people' we may read about.