Plainsong

Ike and Bobby visit Mrs. Stearns. They plan to make cookies, so she sends them to the store to buy the ingredients with her money, trusting them with a key to her house. When they return from the store, she is asleep, and they have to wake her. They prepare the recipe slowly.

They place the raw cookies in the oven. While they wait, Mrs. Stearns shows the boys an old photo album containing pictures of her son, Albert, who died in the Second World War. The boys struggle to recognize a photo of her as a younger woman. Mrs. Stearns’ voice grows “bitter and tired” (131) when talking about her departed husband, and the boys admit that their mother moved to Denver. When the cookies are done, the boys eat them with milk, and Mrs. Stearns smokes and drops the ash in the sink. The boys are allowed to take most of the cookies home with them. 

Guthrie is about to leave a party at Maggie’s house, but she tries to encourage him to stay longer. She agrees to meet him later at a local bar. The “usual crowd” (133) is at the Chute Bar on a Saturday night. Guthrie orders a beer and surveys the room, recognizing a few people and chatting with a man named Buster Wheelright. They chat about antidepressants, detoxing, and other townspeople. Judy chats with Guthrie. Eventually, Judy invites Guthrie to her home for dinner, and he says that he “might do that” (138). Guthrie finishes up his beer and heads home. 

Victoria visits Maggie’s classroom one day in December. Victoria’s pregnancy is “beginning to show” (139), and she reveals that neither of the McPheron brothers talk much at all, not even to each other. Two days later, Maggie spots Harold in the store and tells him that he hasn’t done enough, “neither one of you has” (140). She tells Harold that women expect a “little conversation in the house” (141).

Later, Harold reports this to Raymond, and they agree to do something about it. After a quiet dinner, Harold tries to engage Victoria in conversation. He asks her what she thinks about the market, about how “soybeans was down a point. But that live cattle was holding steady” (142). Victoria notices the men watching her with desperate faces. She admits that she knows nothing but says “maybe you could explain it to me” (142). The brothers begin to explain the intricacies of the market, though Victoria struggles to understand. She smiles anyway, and they talk late into the evening. 

Ike and Bobby spend Christmas week with their mother in Denver. She seems “quieter now” (146). The boys decide that their aunt is bossy and want their mother to stand up for herself. Christmas is “disappointing” (146), though the boys spend time with their mother. After four days, Ella’s silent spells return. She spends long periods alone in the dark room by herself, and the boys are not allowed to see her.

Their aunt’s apartment has a balcony; the boys spend more time out there, eventually taking to dropping items onto the ground below. First spit, then paper, and then eggs. When their aunt finds out about the eggs, she drags them to their mother and forbids them from using the balcony anymore. One night, they find their mother sitting in the living room alone. They sit with her awhile and ask her to return to Holt, but she refuses. Guthrie picks them up the next day, but they talk little about their time in Denver and don’t want to be “disloyal to their mother” (149).