- Same time, different place. Now we're at the Tucks' house. Mr. and Mrs. Tuck—the narrator usually calls them Tuck and Mae—are just waking up.
- It's been a decade since they saw their sons, and Mae plans to travel down to meet them when they arrive, but Tuck just wants to sleep.
- Mae and Tuck chat about how some condition is affecting them. (What condition? We have no idea.) Tuck is unhappy, but Mae basically tells him to man up because they can't do anything about it.
- The two remember that Mae has to stay out of sight and not let anybody else see her. We're not sure why, but it sure seems mysterious.
- Tuck stays in bed while Mae gets ready to go. She puts on her usual outfit and picks up her music box to take with her. But while she's getting ready, she doesn't use their house mirror.
- The narrator explains that Mae and her family have "all looked exactly the same for eighty-seven years" (2.21).
- Well, then.