Yes, his opponents get a head start of three hours against Zaroff.
Answer: Time progresses chronologically with one flashback and a return to the original time.
Explanation:
In the first part, Zeitoun is thinking of the canoe (present time), this leads to a memory of the time the canoe was stolen from the Claiborne house, he and Kathy noticed it when he was released from prison (flashback), then he thinks on how all the stolen things were replaced except for the canoe and he misses it (return to the present), finally he keeps thinking about if he should get a new canoe and if his family would like it (still present).
The images that might help to construct that felling of serenity and nostalgia might be "quiet hills","farms" and may be "rural setting". these ideas would give the reader the sensation that the narrator is remembering his past with nostalgia, it is a recall of what he saw, like a childhood memory which he is not able to go back to because he is an adult now. it seems that his memories are pleasant and he remembers with wistfulness.
It is a program which is youth orientated that helps them set an accomplish goals based of writing.