The Whistling Season

That afternoon, Morrie accompanies Paul home from school. Though Oliver worries that his son has done something wrong, Morrie explains that Paul needs more academic challenges, and suggests that he teach Paul Latin after school. Paul is thrilled with the idea and speculates about how it will affect his dreams.

As Christmas approaches, Paul’s enthusiasm for Latin builds. His studies open language to him in revolutionary ways. On Christmas morning, Oliver sends his three boys, with their gift of toffee, on their annual excursion to see Aunt Eunice, who always has taffy for them. They are surprised when they get to her house and she does not answer their calling. When they enter the mud room, they see that the door to the kitchen is open. Paul sends Damon with Toby to get George. Entering the kitchen, George finds Eunice lying dead across the kitchen table.

Paul has a bad dream about Aunt Eunice’s funeral which he recalls while watching the pallbearers grasp the brass handles of the coffin. Rose comes to his house on the first Monday of the year and asks Paul if he has made any resolutions. Rose announces she wants to buy Aunt Eunice’s homestead, and Oliver agrees to “take the matter under advisement” (196). Paul knows that this means he will eventually agree.

On the first day back at school, the children see that Morrie has shaved off his thick mustache. He announces two science projects: the school will become a weather station; and they will watch together for the advent of Halley's comet, which comes around only once every 75 years.

That afternoon, Morrie systematically keeps most of the large boys after school for minor infractions. He summons them all, except Eddie, into the cloakroom, where he tells them he wants them to dogpile Eddie. Once the boys get Eddie down, Morrie puts reading glasses on his face and has him read a message on the blackboard, which he can do for the first time with the glasses. He makes the boys vow to keep the reading glasses a secret from the girls until the next day.

The next morning, Eddie gingerly puts the glasses on his nose and leaves them there. Paul considers this Eddie’s particular quirk and understands that virtually every student in the school population has some special quirk that everyone else accepts.

Rose comes to Paul’s house the next day crying. She says that Morrie disapproves of her buying Aunt Eunice’s house. She does not want Paul to mention it to Oliver, who might change his mind about helping her. Paul thinks, “At the rate secrets I was sworn to keep were accumulating, I'd soon need one of Damon’s scrapbooks to keep track” (209). Eventually, Morrie gives in and Rose moves in, becoming a permanent neighbor.

Paul and the other students cautiously watch for signs of a deadly blizzard that never materializes during the unusually mild winter. Eddie continues to wear his glasses, which seem to have a moderating effect on him until he strikes another boy for calling him four eyes. Morrie produces an orrery, a moving model of the solar system. He explains the workings of the cosmos and anticipates the return of Halley’s comet.

Rose, ensconced in her new home, asks Paul when Oliver will break ground to plant crops. He replies that it will happen after the coming equinox.

Morrie challenges Paul’s Latin translations, reminding him to go to the root of each word and work out from it to find the best possible translation. They linger on a discussion of the word “appropriate,” meaning something that is proper and also meaning to take something as one's own. Oliver questions why Morrie is buying school supplies from his own pocket and Morrie replies he doesn't wait for the school board to approve things that he needs right then.

In that day's mail, Oliver receives notification from the Montana Department of Public Instruction that a school inspector will be visiting Marias Coulee. Oliver explains that if the inspector finds the school wanting, it could be closed down and the children sent to other towns to complete their education

Oliver gathers his team of draft horses to break ground for the year’s crops. As he and his sons are about to start, they hear Toby, the youngest Milliron boy, scream.

Toby, wearing a brand-new hat that is too large, chases it underneath one of the workhorses. The horse steps on Toby's foot, crushing it. Oliver tells Paul to ride to Westwater and find a doctor to come to the farm. The young doctor arrives in a Model T. After examining Toby's foot, he tries to move the broken bones back into their proper places. The doctor says that Toby must remain immobile for the foot to heal properly.

Oliver, sitting at his kitchen table, struggles with how he can both work in the fields and tend to his youngest son. Rose volunteers to stay both day and night with Toby so that Oliver can focus on farming. To make the plan work, Rose will move into the Milliron house, while Paul and Damon sleep at her home. The arrangement, Paul realized, will raise eyebrows in the community, with an unwed man and woman under the same roof.

Paul tells Toby that his foot will heal and that he will not fail a grade, despite losing his perfect attendance record. Paul searches the night sky for any sign of Halley’s comet, while Rose searches the dark fields for any sign that crops have started to grow. Rose suggests that Paul ask Morrie to teach him Latin in the morning since he can no longer come after school.

Brose comes to the school unexpectedly. He informs Morrie that it is Eddie’s birthday and he is withdrawing him from school. Though Morrie protests, there is nothing he can do because the father has legal rights.