John once told me a story about his friend, Michael. Michael happened to be on a train sitting next to a young man who seemed worried. Finally the young man told the friend that he was a convict   returning home from a prison far away. What he did had brought shame   on his family, and they had neither visited him nor written to him. He hoped, however, that this was only because they were too poor to travel and too busy to write. When he was set free he had written to tell them he wanted to go home. To make matters easy for them, however, he had asked them to put up a signal   for him when the train passed their little farm. If the family had forgiven   him, they were to put up a white ribbon   in the big apple tree near the railway. If they didn't want him back, they were to do nothing, and he would stay on the train, and go far away. As the train neared his hometown his _ became so great that he was afraid to look out of the window. He asked Michael to watch for the big apple tree. They changed seats. In a minute, Michael put his hand on the young convict's shoulder, "There it is," His eyes was filled with sudden tears. "It's all right. The whole tree is white with ribbons." Why was Michael asked to watch for the apple tree?
The young man was afraid that he was refused by his family. The young man's seat was far from the window. The young man was afraid of seeing the white ribbons in the tree. The young man was sure that his family would accept him.