Summary
The paperboy who also is the new boy in the high school falls in love with Evangeline, a girl who ends up buying papers from him. The paperboy dropped them off every day at the only tree in her yard, The Osage Orange Tree. Later when she does not show up at their graduation and after the ceremony goes out looking for her, he can not find her. He asks her older brother, who works at the school as a janitor, he finds out that she was told by her parents that she was not allowed to go to their graduation. He later finds out that Evangeline was stealing the money set aside for her graduation dress, to buy papers from him, just so she could see every day after school. He also finds out as he is leaving her property for the last time that she put all of the papers under a bridge on the property with a stream flowing through. She sacrificed too much for love and it destroyed their relationship.

The Narrator: This story is told from a 1st person point of view set in the past.

The girl (Evangeline): when it comes to Evangeline, there isn’t a very precise description of her looks. When it comes to Evangeline she does as many young impoverished girls, tries her best to fit in at school. If that does not work, then quickly she learns to blend in so that she goes unnoticed. With only two dresses, the other girls like to make fun of her behind her back. Peer pressure would demand that Evangeline be shunned by those who have more than she does.

The relationship between the boy and the girl: the relationship between the boy and the girl would be considered in the beginning as two strangers meeting, but it develops into a friendship (even you even can call it that). They don’t become actual friends, yet they get some kind of friendship, where they meet when he is delivering newspapers and talks with her.

The ending: On the very last day of school, when the seniors were receiving their diplomas, the narrator noticed that Evangeline was not at the ceremony. Finding this odd, the narrator speaks with Evangeline’s older brother after the ceremony to see where she was. Evangeline’s brother revealed to the narrator that she could not come because she had spent the money that she was supposed to have saved for her graduation dress. Finding this odd, the narrator rushes to find the new paperboy to get a paper to give to Evangeline at the tree where she always waited, but strangely enough, she was not there. So, for the first time ever, the narrator walks up the path by the tree to Evangeline’s house only to be told to go away by her mother. Partly disappointed, partly ashamed, the narrator walks back to the tree where he used to meet Evangeline every day. There he threw the newspaper he was holding under the bridge and then looked where it had landed, and what he found underneath the bridge was a year’s worth of newspapers.
Themes:
Determination: The narrator of this story got the newspaper to Evangeline every single day in all weathers imaginable. This was because the narrator was determined to meet Evangeline’s expectations and to be able to see her outside of school.
Responsibility: The narrator of the story shows responsibility by going out of his way to deliver a newspaper to Evangeline in every kind of weather, no matter what.
Caring: Evangeline tells the narrator that her father wants to buy the newspaper. But in the end when he goes up to her house after she didn’t show up to graduation, her mother says “GO AWAY! We don’t want the newspaper!” This is also when he finds the year’s worth of newspapers under the bridge, and finds out that the money Evangeline was supposed to spend on her graduation dress she spent to buy the newspapers. She only bought the newspapers to be able to see the narrator outside of school, just like he only went out of his way to bring her the newspapers to be able to see her outside of school.