Plainsong

Victoria wakes up in the morning and vomits in the bathroom. Her mother enters, but Victoria insists that nothing is wrong. As her mother smokes, Victoria vomits again. When Victoria is finished, her mother accuses her of being pregnant and calls her a “stupid little slut” (16). Victoria denies the accusation at first, but relents and asks for help. Her mother refuses and threatens to kick Victoria out of the house. Victoria prepares for school without eating breakfast and examines herself in the reflection of the store windows, but can “see no change” (17). 

Ike and Bobby ride their bikes into town. They stop at the small town’s rail depot and collect the stack of newspapers. The depot agent, Ralph Black, observes the boys as they split the copies of the Denver News between them. Ralph asks the boys why they are late, but they “refused to say anything or even to acknowledge him” (19). The boys begin to deliver the newspapers around town and then return home.

The boys enter their mother’s room carefully. Ella is lying on the bed, “caught as though in some inescapable thought or attitude, motionless, almost as if she were not even breathing” (20). As Ella whispers, the boys approach the bed and ask how she feels. She asks for a kiss; the boys oblige and leave for school.

Guthrie arrives at the high school and meets Judy, the secretary. Judy is fielding complaints about the previous night’s school play. Guthrie enters the office of Lloyd Crowder, the school principal, and sits down to wait for their meeting. When Crowder arrives, they make small talk; Guthrie says that his wife and his boys are “fine” (23). They discuss Russell, a failing student. Crowder wants Guthrie to “go a little easy” (24) on Russell and allow him to graduate. Guthrie is noncommittal.

Guthrie prepares his lessons for the day, then visits the teacher’s lounge, where he meets Maggie. She chides him as he smokes. They discuss Russell Beckham, who Maggie describes as a “little shit” (25). Maggie leaves when the business teacher Irving Curtis enters the lounge. He and Guthrie smoke and talk, an air of animosity between them.  

Midway through the school day, Victoria leaves to buy food from a gas station. Two boys call out to her, but she ignores them. Victoria buys popcorn and a soda, dismissing the attendant’s questions about her health. As she eats her lunch beside the magazine rack, a blonde senior boy offers her a ride back to school, but she declines.

After school, Victoria walks home alone and begins her shift at the Holt Café. On the chef’s instructions, she begins to wash pots. A woman named Janine also works at the café and makes small talk with Victoria, who insists that nothing is wrong. Janine tells Victoria to “just sit and rest when you need to” (30).