Short Summary of The Boy Comes Home: "The Boy Comes Home" by A.A. Milne
The Boy Comes Home Short Summary: It is a room in Mr. James house where Philip is sitting for breakfast after the usual hour as determined by Mr. James. Nobody can have breakfast aft 8:00. But Philip has just returned from war and wants his breakfast after that hour. He asks Marry, the servant, to get him something to eat. She is very afraid of the cook, Mrs. Higgins. But Philips orders her to go and get the breakfast. Aunt Emily enters and seems very caring about Philip. She asks about his stay in the trenches. Then we come to know that Philip does not like much of his uncle James because his strict rules and regulations.
There comes Marry telling the aunt that Mrs. Higgins wants to talk to her. Philip asks her to come to the room. Mrs. Higgins comes and says:
"Breakfast is at eight o'clock. It always has been as long as I've been in this house, and always will be until I get further orders."
Here Philips says that he is just giving further orders for this. She retaliates and the matter reaches even to resignation. Philip cuts a cheque and fires her from her job. All of a sudden the attitude of Mrs. Higgins changes and she says:
"If it's only a bit of breakfast, I don't say but what I mightn't get it, if I'm asked decent."
Uncle James talks to his wife, Emily, that he wishes to talk to Philip; he seems unhappy over Philip's unpunctuality. He tells her:
"I have decided that the best thing he can do is to come into the business at once."
She asks her husband if he will ask him or just impose his decision upon him. The uncle replies:
"What's the difference? Naturally we shall talk it over first, and--er--naturally he'll fall in with my wishes."
The aunt tells her husband that "he doesn't seem somehow like a boy who can be told what to do. I'm sure they've taught him something". But Uncle James does not seem to listen.
Uncle James begins to wait for his Philip and perhaps he falls asleep and dreams that Philip has come to meet him. Here Philip is very rude with his uncle. He demands his money before attaining the age of majority. But the uncle refuses to give him the money. Rather he asks his nephew to join him in his jam business. But Philip gets so rough with his uncle that he gets a bomb in his hand threatening his uncle. Philip says that "we use force to put down force". The uncle gets so terrified before Philip that he surrenders and agrees to do whatsoever Philips wants him to do. Philip goes out and then we see James waking up as if from a dream. He sees about and realizes that it was a dream because he was still in his chair with the newspaper he was reading.
After a few moments, Philips enters the room smiling as if nothing has happened at all. Uncle James is much terrified from within but he hides his fear of Philip and offers him to work with him in his office and James readily agrees as suggested by his uncle. Philip does not demand anything as Uncle James has dreamt of probably. Uncle James does ask him if he wants to be an architect, as per the dream it was Philip's desire, but Philip looks strangely at his uncle.
But the closing sentence of Philip makes the reader think if it was really a dream with Uncle James or some sort of trick played upon him by Philip about the manager at the business: "Perhaps I'd better bring my revolver, in case he isn't". After Philip is gone, Uncle James looks back into the room thinking if it was a dream or reality. It remains in the dark.
