Scars..

Human History: David becomes a history teacher in Rochester, Minnesota. He says he doesn't "believe in the purity and certainty of the study of history over law." He says he finds history endlessly amusing, know what he knows about religion and sexual abuse. He feels like he's free to "..augment them with whatever lurid or comical fantasy my imagination might concoct." 

His relationship with his wife: David's wife, Betsy, also is a teacher like David. She asked David if he wanted to go back to Montana, his childhood. He told her him, nor anyone in his immediate family would want to go back to Montana. He told her what happened in Montana with their family, and she was stunned but fascinated. He knew that no one ever spoke of that summer in Montana, hasn't since it happened. They all keep it a subject they never discuss. He didn't tell his wife that, because he said "..i wanted to see what would happen when someone else brought out into the open a topic that had never been discussed in any detail in my presence.