Plainsong

Bobby and Ike go to the cinema. When the film finishes, the audience pours out into the street. The boys walk home. Before they reach the end of their journey, three teenagers pull up and ask whether “you little girls want a ride” (210). Bobby and Ike try to walk home, but the teenagers follow them. One of the boys is Russell. Despite the warnings of the girl, the two teenagers step out of the car and try to catch Ike and Bobby. The teenagers grab the boys’ coats and shove them into the backseat of the car. They drive out toward the flat open country. The girl tries to convince Russell to let the boys go, but he refuses.

The car stops at a low hill, and the teenagers drag Ike and Bobby out into the night. Russell plans to leave the boys five miles from town and make them walk back on their own. Bobby and Ike stand silently, “their faces ashen and frightened” (213). Before the teenagers leave, the other boy decides that walking home is not enough. He drags Bobby into the road. When Ike protests, Russell slams him onto the hood of the car. The other boy strips off Bobby’s pants, underwear, and shoes and throws them into the darkness. Ike breaks free and runs at the teenager, hitting him in the neck. Russell grabs him from behind. As the teenager taunts Bobby, Russell strips away Ike’s pants, underwear, and shoes. Bobby and Ike begin to cry, crouching down in the road next to one another, trying to cover their naked lower bodies with their shirts. The teenagers drive away.  

Bobby and Ike search for their shoes and clothes, though it takes half an hour. They start walking back toward Holt. They consider stopping at a farmhouse but do not want to tell anyone what happened. By the time they arrive home, it is midnight.

Guthrie is not at home. The boys wash, removing the stains of dirt and tears from their faces. Guthrie arrives home. He has been out searching for them. The boys do not want to tell their father what happened.

Guthrie stays with his boys until they fall asleep. The next morning, in the daylight, the boys can tell him what happened. Guthrie drives to Russell’s house. Mrs. Beckman answers the door, and Guthrie asks to see her son. Mrs. Beckman refuses and is joined by her husband. They eventually relent and fetch Russell.

The Beckman family steps out onto the porch together as the neighbors mill around. Guthrie reveals what Russell did to his boys the night before. Russell denies it but Guthrie insists, even as he is “barely able to speak” (220). When Russell continues to deny the truth, Guthrie rushes at him. He slams Russell up against the porch while Mr. and Mrs. Beckman shout for him to stop. Mr. Beckman lands a punch across Guthrie’s head and knocks him to the floor. The neighbors watch on. Guthrie and Mr. Beckman fight; Guthrie lands a blow on Mr. Beckman’s throat. A brawl ensues. Bud Sealy, the sheriff, arrives and takes all three to the police station. 

Victoria tells the McPheron brothers the story about Dwayne taking her to Denver. They take her to see the doctor, and she cries on the way, telling them about her drinking and the cuts and bruises she found on her body that she could not explain. Raymond tries to reassure her with stories about pregnant cattle. They wait at the doctor’s office for more than an hour. Harold stands up and insists that the woman at the reception inform the doctor that they are waiting. The doctor sees them next.

The brothers sit outside while Victoria sees the doctor. While they wait, Raymond confesses to making up the story about the pregnant cow. When Victoria is finished, she exits the room with a “tentative little smile” (225). The baby is due in two weeks. The brothers tell Victoria to wait in the truck as they want to ask the doctor some questions. As they walk back toward the office, the woman tries to stop them. They knock on the doctor’s door and ask to talk to him. Reluctantly, he agrees. Amid a string of threats and questions, the brothers demand that the doctor tell them what he told Victoria. 

Alone in the house on a Sunday, Ike and Bobby examine the items in their house. After searching through everything, they ride their bikes toward Main Street and let themselves into Mrs. Stearns’ house using the key she gave them. She is in a chair, and “her head was lapsed sideways onto the shoulder of her blue housedress” (228). Her body is cold.

They leave the apartment and lock the door behind them. They pedal their bikes home and then saddle the remaining horse, Easter. Bobby sits in the saddle, and Ike rides behind. They ride 11 miles south of Holt and spend the evening searching for a house. Unable to find it, they stop and ask for directions to the place they want to go. Riding along the road at night, they eventually find the house.

When they knock, Victoria answers the door. Bobby and Ike do not know her, so they turn to leave. Before they do, the McPherons appear and recognize the boys. They encourage the boys to come inside, and Victoria makes them each a plate of food. Harold takes care of the horse while Raymond phones Guthrie, who has been “worried sick” (233). Raymond recommends that Guthrie let the boys stay out at the farm as they seem upset; Guthrie agrees. Victoria makes the boys a bed in the living room. Before they fall asleep, Ike asks, “What are we doing out here?” (235), but the question goes unanswered.

Guthrie arrives very early in the morning and loads the horse into a trailer before the boys have finished their breakfast. As they drive home, he tells his boys that he had been worried. He asks them “not to leave like that again” (236). Ike tells his father that Mrs. Stearns is dead. Guthrie promises to call someone. Ike asks his father when their mother is coming home, and Guthrie concedes that she probably will not.