Lewis describes the change in weather. The snow stops falling, the temperatures rise, and the town shifts back to normalcy. Yet, Mrs. Hardie still misses her son. John and Edward are still dead. Nettie was moved from the hospital to an institutional care facility, and the farmer sits emaciated in his barn, gripping his shotgun. Lewis shovels out his driveway, then hears music on the wind and sees a man standing outside. Feeling stupid with exhaustion, he goes back to bed. He resolves to take a walk. As he returns, he smells bacon cooking. He thinks Christina Barnes has let herself in his house. Dreading the confrontation, he makes his way into the house and finds no one there. He looks all around but finds no one. He calls Otto and asks to go hunting.

Peter ditches class and heads towards Lewis’s house, ready to confront the man about his possible affair with his mom. Peter walks down the road hitchhiking. A man stops and opens his door. The man stops at Lewis’s drive and as Peter approaches the house, he hears a voice in his head telling him to imagine Lewis and his mother.