A Month in the Country

On Sunday, the Ellerbecks invite Birkin to their annual parish picnic in town, a kind of celebration of the approaching harvest with sandwiches, dancing, and games. When they arrive back, however, they are told that young Emily Crouch died.

Days later, Birkin volunteers to go with the Ellerbecks to the nearby town of Ripon to select a new, gently-used organ for their church. When the ad-hoc committee arrives at the cavernous warehouse, young Kathy agrees to test out the floor models. She plays hymns vigorously to the point where other buyers are distracted. But the Ellerbecks, as Wesleyans, believe in full-throated worship until the dealer himself stops them: “Here stop that row. You can’t have a blasted choir practice here” (109). A bit put off by such zealotry, Birkin wanders off amid the organs for sale until he spies the Keaches, there presumably shopping for a new harmonium for their church. When the Ellerbeck committee makes its selection, Birkin stays behind in the hopes of talking with Alice. Instead, Birkin runs into an old army buddy who reveals that Moon was dishonorably discharged and spent time in the brig on charges of having sex with another man. “Poor bugger,” his buddy says.