Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional abuse and death by suicide.

Professor Werner seeks out the sheriff’s office in the town of German Corners, hoping to find out why he hasn’t heard from the Nielsen family (which consists of two parents and their son, Paal). Sheriff Wheeler knows who Werner is and returns home to his wife Cora to tell her that Werner is on his way. Cora becomes distraught, knowing what this might mean. 

The narrative shifts to the past, describing the moment some time before the narrative present, when Paal was found after his family home burned down. He was safe and untouched by the fire, but his parents were both burned alive. The first thing that everyone noticed about Paal was that he could not talk at all; instead, he just stared blankly in silence and looked “as if he’d never heard a human voice in his life” (111). Sheriff Wheeler took Paal back to his house because there was nowhere else for the boy to go. Cora welcomed the boy and reacted with deep concern, immediately devoting herself to being Paal’s mother.