Iona, the protagonist of the story, is a cab driver. After the sudden death of his son, he is miserable and he wants to share his feelings but he's unable to find a person to vent out. He wants someone to hear about the loss that he has been suffering but it's observed that everyone is either busy or uninterested thus he becomes a miserable figure and in the end shares everything with his horse. In the starting of the story, it's explained that how unaware he has become of his surroundings that even the snow wasn't bothering him, all he was looking for was an individual to hear about everything that has been happening with him. He also states that death came to his son instead of him. So after the loss of his son, he has turned into a miserable man who finds earning a living difficult and is looking for support in every individual he comes across.