Louis Creed reflects on searching for their new white frame house in Ludlow, Maine: how stressful the idea of moving was with a teething infant, crying wife, sulking child, and a cat that howled incessantly. He remembers briefly considering leaving his family members in Bangor and escaping to Disney World. But then his family sees the house, and Rachel gushes about how beautiful it is and Ellie their daughter, screams excitedly. Even Gage mimics Ellie, calling this new house a home: “Louis plucked Gage from his wife’s lap and hugged him. That was how they came to Ludlow” (5).

As Louis hunts the keys to the house that he has misplaced, Ellie falls from the swing and cuts her knee on a rock, shrieking even louder when she sees the antiseptic her father retrieves from his medical bag. Rachel acknowledges that their neighbor has just come out on his porch, and Louis stifles the urge to slap Ellie, who is still screaming. Gage gets stung by a bee and starts screaming, making Ellie scream as well. Jud comes up and advises they pluck the stinger out: “[Jud] held out his hands and smiled crookedly […] a smile Louis liked at once—and he was not a man who ‘took’ to people” (8).