Tuck+Everlasting!

= = Welcome to Tuck Everlasting! You can come here to review by reading the summaries and notes provided! Feel free to discuss anything that confuses you or anything you like about the book! 

Summary
The Prologue is the author’s opportunity to introduce her readers to her main theme - the circle of life. She begins the story in the first week of August, the dog days of summer, and she likens the month to the top of the Ferris wheel, if the wheel were the year. August sits at the top of the year, and during this time, people are often led to do things they are sure to be sorry for later. She then explains that three events, seemingly unconnected, occur and come together in strange ways: Mae Tuck sets out on her horse for the edge of the village of Treegap as she does once every ten years to meet her sons; Winnie Foster loses her patience and thinks about running away; and a stranger appears at the Foster house looking for someone. At the center of these events is the wood, the hub of the wheel. She cautions the reader that the hubs of wheels are fixed points and best left undisturbed. For without them, nothing holds together.

Notes (on Prologue)
The thematic presentation in the very beginning is very simplistic, but very important. The author is about to present a simple tale, but one filled with deep meanings. We are already presented with one: the idea of the wheel and its hub as representative of the ever continuance of life and its cycles.



Summary
The author introduces us to the idea of the road to Treegap. It had been trod out by cows who seemed to have a sixth sense about the wood. The creatures make their way and create their path by going around it, and so there is no path or road //through// the wood. As a result, we, the readers, are led to concentrate on the position of the first house along the road, the road itself, and the wood. The wood and the house belong to the Fosters, but they never go there. Their daughter Winnie sometimes stands and looks at it, but she has never seen it. The author tells us that it’s a good thing that the cows were responsible for the wood’s isolation, because if they had trodden a road through the woods, people would have come across the giant ash tree at its center. They would have seen the little spring that bubbles up among the tree’s roots in spite of the pebbles that have been piled up there to conceal it. That would have been a disaster that would have made the earth tremble on its axis like a beetle on a pin.

Summary
This chapter introduces us to the Tucks. Mae, the wife and mother, rises early to take the horse and wagon and meet her boys who are coming home. Her husband, Angus, prefers to stay in bed where he was having a wonderful dream where the whole family was in heaven and had never heard of Treegap. Mae overrides her husband’s caution about going into Treegap by saying that she hasn’t been there for ten years and no one will recognize her. She decides to leave her husband, asking if he’ll be alright, which prompts him to ask what in the world could possibly happen to him. She gets dressed and at the last minute tucks a music box into her pocket. It is the one pretty thing she owns, and she takes it with her everywhere. She adds a large straw bonnet at the last minute and puts it on while smoothing her hair at the same time. She doesn’t look at a mirror, because her reflection has ceased to interest her. For Mae Tuck, her husband, and her two sons have looked exactly the same for the last 87 years.

Summary
At the same time that Mae Tuck is rising and planning to meet her sons, Winnie Foster is sitting on the grass just inside the fence around her house talking to a Toad who sits across the road. She tells it while throwing stones near it but not at it, that she has had enough - she’s tired of being looked at all the time and bossed around by her parents and her grandmother. She knows that they hover over her, because she is an only child, but she desperately wants something that’s all hers and a new name that’s not worn out from being called so much. She also tells the creature that she might decide to have him for a pet, but when he jumps a few more inches away from her, it occurs to her that it shouldn’t be cooped up any more than she wants to be. She decides she should run away. Just at that moment, her mother calls for her, and Winnie obediently answers the call. The Toad begins to jump clumsily toward the wood, but Winnie calls after it that it should just wait until morning. It will see then that she is good at keeping her promise to run away.

Summary
In this chapter, the third event takes place: the Man in the Yellow Suit strolls up the road and pauses at the Fosters’ gate. Winnie is in the yard catching fireflies when he bids her good evening. He is very tall and narrow with a <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">thin beard and a black hat in his hand. He is very charming to talk to, and for a moment, it seems to Winnie as if he stands suspended in air. She frowns when he <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">smiles so easily given that the funeral wreath for her <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">grandfather  still hung on the door. He has many personal questions for her, because he’s looking for someone - a family. Her grandmother opens the door suspiciously when she sees the Man and is just about to pull Winnie back inside, when they hear a wisp of music float towards them over the air. Grandmother exclaims in surprise that it is the return of the elf music she had heard many years before. The Man in the Yellow Suit is immediately curious since it had been many years since she had heard it, but she excuses herself and Winnie to go inside, offering him no explanation. Winnie observes that it sounds like a music box. After they go inside, the Man in the Yellow Suit stands softly listening until the music box notes drift away. Then, he, too, moves on, softly whistling the little melody.

Summary
Winnie awakens the next morning with the realization that sometime during the night, she had made up her mind to run away. However, in another part of her head is her oldest fear: she is afraid to go away alone. It makes her worry that the Toad will be out by the fence and know her fear. He might call her a coward. So, she decides that at least she can slip out and go into the wood to see if she can discover what made the music the night before. When Winnie goes into the wood, she is surprised that she has never come here before, because it is so nice. It is actually full of light, a light entirely different from the one she is used to. There are creatures everywhere as well, including the Toad. She tells it excitedly that she has kept her promise to be there first thing in the morning. It seems to nod and then vanishes into the underbrush. It makes her glad she has come. She wanders for a long time and then sees something move in a clearing. She is sure that it is the elves her grandmother had told her about. She begins to creep on all fours to a sheltering tree trunk and peers around it into the clearing. At the center of the clearing is an enormous tree with thick <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">roots rumpling the ground ten feet in every direction. Sitting with his back against the trunk is a boy who seems so glorious that Winnie loses heart to him almost at once. She watches him carefully as he rubs his ear, yawns and stretches. Then, he moves a pile of pebbles by his side until beneath them is a low spurt of <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">water from which he takes a drink. As he does, his eyes rise up and he spies Winnie. The boy frowns and tells her to <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">come out, while Winnie protests that she hadn’t meant to <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">watch  him, because she didn’t know anyone would be there. She tells him she’s there, because it’s her wood and that’s when the boy knows that she is a Foster. He introduces himself as Jesse Tuck and when Winnie asks how old he is, he tells her he is 104. Then, he amends his comment and says he’s seventeen. Eventually, the conversation turns to the <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">water when Winnie declares she’s thirsty and wants to drink. The boy becomes instantly alarmed and tells her that it would be terrible for her if she drank any of it. Winnie is insistent that if it hadn’t hurt him, it won’t hurt her and that she’ll tell her father if he won’t allow her to drink. That idea alarms him even more and he mutters, with his foot firmly held on the pile of pebbles, that he knew this would happen sooner or later. Fortunately for Jesse, just at that moment comes a crashing sound among the trees and a voice calling his name. It is his mother and Miles and as soon as Mae Tuck sees Winnie with her son, she announces, “The worst is happening at last.”

Summary
The next few minutes become almost a blur to Winnie. She is seized, swung through the air, and forced to straddle the fat old horse while Miles and Jesse trot alongside it and Mae puffs on ahead, dragging the bridle. This is nothing like her fears of being kidnapped, because the kidnappers are just as alarmed as she is. The Tucks plead with her not to be afraid, that they would never harm her, and that they will explain everything as soon as they are far enough away. Winnie, surprisingly, is fiercely calm and thinks that for the first time, she is <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">riding a horse and what would the Toad say if it could see her now. Just as they come to the edge of the <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">wood, who should appear but the Man in the Yellow Suit. Winnie thinks she can call to him for help, but instead she merely stares at him as Mae explains that they are “teaching their little girl how to ride.” Finally, they stop at a place where a shallow stream loops near some willows and sheltering scrub bushes. Mae decides they’ll catch their breath and try to set things straight before they go on. However, the explanation comes hard. Winnie comes to realize at the same time that she might never see her mother again and begins to cry. Mae is dismayed to see the little girl cry and insists they are not bad people and will take her <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">home  the next day. They chastise themselves that they never had a better plan than this and that they had plenty of time to create one. Mae is just shocked that what they knew would always happen comes about as the result of a child. Without thinking, she begins to wind the key to her music box in her pocket and when the melody begins to play, Winnie stops sobbing. She had heard the same music the night before. Mae allows her to hold it and wind it again and Winnie concludes that no one who owns something this pretty could be disagreeable. Jesse then tells her that they are her friends and that she has to help them. He has her sit down as he begins to tell her why.

Summary
Winnie is the Tucks’ first real audience and they gather around her like children at their mother’s knee, trying to claim her attention. It seems that 87 years before, the Tucks had come from a long way east looking for a place to settle. They came to the spot that was now the Fosters’ wood and turned from the trail to find a camping place. It was there that they happened on the spring. They stopped and everyone, except their <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">cat took a drink, even the horse. The water tasted somewhat strange, but they camped there overnight anyway and the next morning, Angus Tuck, the father, carved a T on the trunk to mark where they had been. Then, they moved on. Many miles to the west, they found a thinly populate valley and started a <span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">farm. Then, they began to notice peculiar things: Jesse fell out of a tree right onto his head, but it didn’t hurt him a bit, someone shot the horse, mistaking him for a <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">deer, but the bullet went right through and hardly left a mark, Pa was snake bitten, Jesse ate poison toadstools, and Ma cut herself severely. In all these instances, nothing hurt them. Finally, as more time passed, they saw they weren’t getting any older. Miles’ wife believed he’d sold his soul to the devil and left him along with their two children. Their friends began to talk of witchcraft and they finally realized they had to leave the farm. Therefore, they began to wander like gypsies until they came back through the area where they had carved the T on the trunk of the tree. They saw that everything around this spot was still fresh and young, and they decided it had to be the water. To prove it, Angus picked up his gun and shot himself. The shot knocked him down when the bullet plowed through his heart. However, it scarcely even left a mark. That’s when they knew they were going to live forever. At first, they were exultant, but when they began to talk about it, they realized the danger if everyone knew about the spring. No one would die and that would be bad for the world as a whole. Angus believed that the spring was something left over from the original plan for the world, some plan that didn’t work out too well, a plan that caused everything to change. Jesse then tells Winnie that he wasn’t kidding when he said he was 104 years old. He really is, only he’ll look and be seventeen forever.

Summary
Winnie is at first skeptical, because she has never been one to believe in fairy tales. And yet, something makes her believe in these people. Jesse is exultant still about the idea that he will live forever. He is amazed at all he has seen and all he will see, but Mae cautions him and Winnie that there’s more to it than good times. She pleads with Winnie to understand that this must be kept a secret, and that they must take her<span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">home with them for at least one night to answer all her questions. The way they look at and they way they speak to her makes Winnie feel very special. Miles takes her hand and tells her it will only be for a day or two and that it’s really fine to have her along. To Winnie, then, the Tucks become the friends she’s never had and in running away, she doesn’t have to go alone. They have helped her <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">discover the wings she’d always wished she’d had. So, like Jesse, she runs shouting down the road in happiness that the spring story might be true. Unfortunately, in her exultation and in their exuberance, she and the rest of the Tucks do not notice the Man in the Yellow Suit in the bushes where he has heard the whole story. Nor do they notice that he begins to follow them with a slight smile above his <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">thin, gray beard.

Summary
It is a long journey to the Tucks’ home, and Miles has to carry Winnie part of the way. Eventually, they arrive, and to Winnie, it seems as if they have slipped under a giant colander. The arms of pine trees stretch out protectively and it is blessedly cool and green. Down an embankment, Winnie sees a plain, homely little <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">house, a barn, and a tiny lake. Out of the door comes Angus Tuck with the words, “The boys say you brung along a real honest-to-goodness natural child.” Winnie is very shy around him until he tilts his head to one side, his eyes go soft, and the gentlest smile in the world creases his cheeks. He is so happy to see her that he makes Winnie feel like an unexpected present wrapped in pretty blue paper and tied with ribbons. He tells her it’s the finest thing that’s happened to them in 87 years.

Summary
Winnie is exposed to even more change in her life when she goes inside the Tuck cottage. In her home, her <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">mother  <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">and grandmother were experts at order and cleanliness, but in the Tuck home, it is a homely little place with dust and cobwebs and even a mouse that lives in a <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">table  drawer. Everything is helter-skelter and everywhere there is evidence of their individual activities: Mae’s <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">sewing and Angus’ wood carving. Mae explains that they make things to sell. However, there are also bowls of daisies everywhere and the clean, sweet smell of water. Winnie is amazed and yet she is comfortable. Mae talks to her about how the boys go away doing different things in different places. Miles is good at carpentry and blacksmithing while Jesse does what strikes him at the moment, like working in someone’s fields or in saloons. She explains that none of them can stay in one place for very long because of their secret. People will notice that they’re not growing older and begin to wonder if it’s witchcraft at work. They have been at this little <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">house for twenty years, and Mae says it’s just about time to move on. She also explains how they always set up a family reunion every ten years at the spring so they can come <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">home together. She wonders aloud why it happened to them, because they deserve neither special blessings nor curses. However, she is accepting of the idea that life brings what it will and there’s no use fussing about it. She ends her conversation with Winnie by telling her that Angus has a few ideas to express to her after dinner.

Summary
Dinner at the Tuck home is also very different to Winnie. They eat sitting in the parlor instead of around the table. There are no rules for dining like at her home and no one talks as long as there is food on the table. Winnie loses her elation and pleasure. The differences from her own home make her declare that she wants to go home. Mae calmly explains that they will take her home once they have explained why she must promise never to tell about the spring. That’s why they brought her there. Angus then says he will take Winnie for a <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">boat ride in the old row boat before dark, because there’s a good deal to be said and he is afraid there’s not much time to say it. They talk about seeing the Man in the Yellow Suit and how Winnie says he knows her and will tell her father. That makes Tuck more sure than ever that they have to get her home as fast as they can.

Summary
As Winnie climbs in the row <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">boat, she hears the sound of an old bullfrog which, of course, reminds her of her Toad. Tuck points out that this time of night is feeding time for the fish who rise to the surface to eat the insects. He says that what is all around them is life - moving, growing, and changing. He explains how the sun sucks up some of the water and carries it to the clouds, which then rain into the stream, taking it all back again. He calls it a wheel, turning and turning, but never stopping. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Then, he gets the rowboat stuck and tells Winnie that the Tucks are the rowboat, stuck and unable to move on. They’re no longer part of the wheel. When Winnie exclaims that she doesn’t want to die, Tuck soothes her with the thought that her time will not come for a long, long time. However, he says that dying is also part of the wheel, just like being born, and that no one can pick out the pieces they like and leave the rest. He says living is hard, but that he would climb back on that wheel in a minute if he could. He says his family isn’t really living; they just //are// like a rock at the side of the road Then, he warns her that if people knew about the spring, they’d come after it like greedy pigs and they wouldn’t know until afterward about the mistake they had made. He wants so badly for her to understand why the spring must be kept secret, but Winnie can only sit there in anguish. Then, they hear Miles calling out that someone has stolen the <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">horse.

Summary
The horse has been stolen by the Man in the Yellow Suit and he rides it to the Fosters’ <span style="font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; position: static;"><span class="kLink" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: initial !important; border-left-style: none !important; border-left-width: 0px !important; border-right-color: initial !important; border-right-style: none !important; border-right-width: 0px !important; border-top-color: initial !important; border-top-style: none !important; border-top-width: 0px !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: verdana,arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; padding-bottom: 1px !important; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-right: 0px !important; padding-top: 0px !important; position: static; width: auto !important;">home. He sees that even though it’s almost midnight, the Fosters haven’t gone to bed, and he forcibly intrudes with his “happy” news that he knows where they have taken the girl.

=
There is nothing for the Tucks to do now but go to bed. Angus is concerned over whether the horse thief is an ordinary thief or someone who has a special reason. He has a bad feeling about the whole thing. Winnie is put to bed on the sofa, but she is very uncomfortable all night, because it isn’t her nightgown and it isn’t her bed. Her head whirls with thoughts about whether the secret is true and whether the Man in the Yellow Suit has told her parents. Then, her thoughts are intermixed with sounds of the frogs and the crickets and she begins to drift into sleep. Just at that moment, Mae comes to see how she’s resting. She apologizes for bringing Winnie back to their home, but says she didn’t know of any other way. She softly tells Winnie how nice it is to have her there and how she wishes Winnie belonged to them. Even Tuck himself comes out later to check on her and tell her that if she wants anything to just holler and he’ll come running. He leaves her with a kiss on the cheek and the comment that it’s been quite some time that they’ve had a natural growing child in the house.====== His presence makes Winnie worry about what her father will do to them when he comes. Her final visitor of the night is Jesse He reinforces the point that she must keep the secret and how when she’s seventeen, she could drink some of the water and go away with him. He makes Winnie adore him and leaves her with many thoughts before she once again drifts off to sleep. All of these nocturnal visits of the Tucks emphasize their innate goodness and compassion for others. They want to protect the world from the dangers of the spring water and they want to protect Winnie as well until she’s old enough to choose for herself. They have come to love her, but ultimately it’s up to her to do the right thing.
 * Notes**

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN** The plot resumes in the Foster house where the Man in the Yellow Suit is explaining what he knows. However, he makes it very clear that he will not reveal this information until the Fosters give him something he wants: the wood and the spring of which they are unaware. He emphasizes that they have something he wants and he has something they want. He also smoothly infers that the Tucks are illiterate, rough country people and there’s no telling what they might do to Winnie. He intimidates them into writing up an agreement to give him the wood and then explains that he and the constable will ride out and bring back Winnie and the “criminals.” He even insists that Mr. Foster has no need to come along. With that, he concludes his evil deal.
 * Summary**

The purpose of this chapter is to emphasize the Man in the Yellow Suit as a symbol of evil. His greed makes him bargain the life of a child for something from which he hopes to profit. He is intimidating and is ironically more of a criminal than the Tucks who have seemingly kidnapped Winnie. He is so good at pressuring the Fosters that they can’t say a word, and only give into his demands.
 * Notes**

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN** The Man in the Yellow Suit and the Constable set out to find the Tucks’ home. The Constable warns the Man that his horse is not strong enough to keep up the pace the Man wants to set. He is also suspicious as to why the Man is so deep into this situation. He’s also annoyed that the Man fails to keep up his end of any conversation. He learns from him that the Man had bought the wood from the Fosters, which surprises the Constable. However, the Man goes silent after that and the Constable is forced to keep up his own conversation. He mumbles on about how unusual kidnapping is in these parts and how the perpetrators will probably be sent over to Charleyville even though they have a brand new jail right there in Treegap. Finally, the Man in the Yellow Suit tells the Constable that since he can travel faster than the older man, he’ll ride on ahead and keep watch until the Constable arrives. The Man leaves the Constable yawning and talking to his horse about the unusual yellow suit.
 * Summary**

The reader immediately feels from this chapter that the Man in the Yellow Suit isn’t going to ride ahead to just watch the Tucks. He has other ideas in mind and they can’t be good. It’s also important to note that the Constable mentions the brand new jail they have in Treegap. It will figure into the plot later
 * Notes**

**Summary** Once again Winnie awakens early. She gets up and walks to the window where she sees that the light is still pale. There is mist floating on the water of the tiny lake, making everything seem unreal. Then, through the dewy weeds, she sees a toad hop into view. She doesn’t believe it’s her Toad, but it makes her think that she hasn’t been home in weeks, rather than just a few days.
 * CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

When Miles sees that Winnie is awake, he takes her with him to find fish for breakfast. Once again, out on the water, a toad plops into the water and it makes her certain that today the Tucks will take her home. She realizes that she’s come to love this peculiar family and that they are her friends alone. She also sees the difference between Jesse and Miles. Miles is as solid as the oar he wields while Jesse is like the water: thin and quick. Miles talks about his little girl, Anna, and how he used to take her fishing, too. It is queer to him to think that she’d be almost 80 years old, and his son would be 82. He explains that by the time they realized the immortality of the water, it was too late to give any to his wife and children. They were too old and would have had a father as close in age as they were. Besides, Angus was dead set against allowing any more people to know the secret.

Winnie sees another bullfrog and observes that it would be nice if nothing had to die. However, Miles points out that it wouldn’t be that nice at all since there would end up being too many people and they all be squeezed up next to each other. Then, she almost catches a fish but is glad when it gets away. She leaves the fishing to Miles while she concludes that the Tucks are right. It is best if no one knows the secret. She asks Miles what he will do with all his time and he says that he wants to find a way to do something important. Winnie nods at this idea, because that’s what she wants, too. They both conclude that people have to do something important if they’re going to take up space in the world. He just doesn’t know what he can do, yet.

Then, Miles catches a fish and throws it into the boat. It seems to be suffering to Winnie, and she begs him to put it back. Miles protests at first, but then sees how Winnie is reacting to the suffering of the fish. He puts it back, assures her it will be all right, and then reminds her that people have to be meat-eaters sometimes and that means killing things. Winnie knows this, but still cannot bear to kill the fish that morning. Once again the concept of change or metamorphosis is emphasized when Winnie sees toads and bullfrogs wherever she goes. It is Miles’ conversation finally opens her eyes to the truth about what the Tucks have been saying. Nonetheless, she cannot bear to kill the defenseless fish. Miles comment that people are meat eaters and that means killing foreshadows the coming murder committed by Mae. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;">**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN** **Summary** And so the family and Winnie eat flapjacks again that morning since she asked that the fish be returned to the lake. Winnie’s heart is fluttering as she waits for Jesse to come down to breakfast. The sight of him is heart wrenching to her. To Mae, all of them together with Winnie added to the family, is just like having a party. However, Angus wakes them all up with his sober mood and his worry about taking Winnie home. Mae won’t allow serious talk until after breakfast so Angus fondly asks Winnie how she slept. As she answers him, for a moment, Winnie wishes she could stay with them forever in the untidy house by the pond. She looks at each one of them and thinks that maybe Jesse is right about drinking the water at seventeen and when she looks at Angus, it occurs to her that he is dearest of them all, though she can’t explain why.
 * Notes**

Then, the most alien sound of all occurs – a knock at the door. Mae drops her fork in surprise, because they haven’t had callers in all the years they have been living in the little house. She goes to open it and Winnie recognizes the rich, pleasant voice at once as the Man in the Yellow Suit.

This is a chapter that shows Winnie’s ultimate metamorphosis - she is beginning to think of others before herself. It is only the interruption of the knock at the door that allows reality to intrude.
 * Notes**

**CHAPTER NINETEEN** The Man in the Yellow Suit enters the Tuck home and for a moment just stares at each member of the family. His face is expressionless, but there is something unpleasant behind it even though he tells Winnie she is safe and he is coming to take her home. Jesse is outraged at the way the Man begins to order them around in their own home, but Angus tells him to hush and let the Man speak his piece. So, the Man in the Yellow Suit begins to tell his story.
 * Summary**

He explains that when he was growing up, his grandmother told him a story about a dear friend of hers and her family who never seemed to get any older. The wife of one of the sons eventually left him in fear that they were all witches. They recognize that the Man’s mother had played as a child with Miles’ daughter, Anna. This makes Mae call out that the Man has no right bringing such pain into their house. But the Man in the Yellow Suit soothes her by asking her to hear him out. He goes on to say that he decided to devote his life to finding out if the story his grandmother told could be true. He went to school and studied everything he could on the subject, but finally concluded that it was a waste of time. He went home and brought his grandmother a music box. The gift reminded her of the music box that her friend had had, the friend that didn’t grow old. His grandmother taught him the melody of that long ago music box, and at that point, the Man knew it was clue. He set out to find the family, following the route they were said to have taken when they left their farm.

He then tells the Tucks that two evenings before, he had heard the music box, followed Winnie and heard the whole story. The Tucks are outraged, calling him a horse thief, and demanding that he tell them what he plans to do. Therefore, the Man in the Yellow Suit explains that he has traded the wood for Winnie and that he plans to sell the water. Not to everyone, but just to certain people who really deserve it. He even has the gall to recommend that the Tucks join him and perform acts like shooting themselves to encourage people to buy. Jesse says dully that all the Man wants from them is to act like freaks in a patent-medicine show. When the Man tells them he is offering them a way to live like people again instead of like pigs, the whole Tuck family stands up in an attempt to stop him. The Man in the Yellow Suit grabs Winnie by the arm and tries to drag her away. She resists, screaming that she hates him and won’t go with him. Then, everything abruptly goes silent as Mae orders him to let the child go with a shotgun in her hands held like a club. The Man smiles a ghastly smile and calls them selfish for thinking they can keep the water all to themselves. He decides right then that if the Tucks won’t be a part of his scheme, he’ll make Winnie drink the water and be part of his demonstrations. Mae’s face turns dark red, and she warns the Man that he isn’t going to do such a thing to Winnie. Then, she swings the gun around her head like a wheel and smashes it into the back of his skull. He drops like a tree and just at that moment, the Constable rides through the pine trees, a witness to what Mae has done.

This chapter is the typical good versus evil scenario. The Tucks have come to love Winnie and will protect her against anything. However, they also love mankind and the life cycle that turns like a wheel. They won’t allow anyone to disrupt that cycle.
 * Notes**

**CHAPTER TWENTY** The Constable checks the Man in the Yellow Suit and says he’s not yet dead, but implies he will be soon. Mae tells him she hit the Man, because he was going to take Winnie away against her will. Winnie insists also that she wasn’t kidnapped, but had come with them, because she wanted to. She insists that they are her friends. Then, she looks down at the Man in the Yellow Suit and thinks he looks like a marionette, carelessly thrown into the corner, arms and legs every which way amidst its strings. But it is Angus Tuck who is the most fascinating to her as she turns away from the sight of death. He is looking down at the Man almost enviously, like a starving man looking through the window at a banquet. She can’t stand to see him that way and makes him look away.
 * Summary**

The Constable insists that both Mae and Winnie come with him. Mae will be locked up and Winnie will be taken home. The family is devastated to learn that Mae will get the gallows if she’s found guilty. Winnie makes sure that Angus knows that everything will be alright, because the whole wide world is no longer about what might happen to her, but what she herself must keep from happening. She must make sure they do not hang Mae, because she will not be able to die.

It’s ironic that Winnie thinks of the dying Man as a marionette flung carelessly into a corner, because he was the one who was trying to pull their strings. Now he is without anyone to hold him up. Also, the idea of Mae being hung is not just abhorrent because of what she will experience, but it will also reveal the secret of the spring when she doesn’t die.
 * Notes**

**Summary** Winnie is home once more sitting in her little rocking chair in her bedroom. The Constable had told her parents that she had gone away of her own free will, which made them pause for a moment. However, they soon took her up, bathed her, fed her, and petted her all the while refusing to believe her story. They do realize that she has changed somehow, that part of her had slipped away. She leans her arms on the windowsill and thinks how she has ties to her mother, her father, and her grandmother, but that she has bonds with the Tucks as well. The heat lightening flashes and Winnie thinks about the Man in the Yellow Suit. She concludes that he has to die to protect the secret of the spring and she knows that’s why Mae did it. Then, she hears hoof beats on the road and the Constable announce to her parents that the Man in the Yellow Suit has died and now Mae will surely hang. She is reminded of the time she had killed a wasp before it stung her and how she had wished it were alive again. Now she wonders if Mae is weeping in her cell for the Man in the Yellow Suit. In spite of her wish to save the world, did she wish he were alive again? Winnie knows that Mae had done what she thought she had to do, and now she also knows she must do whatever is necessary to keep Mae from the gallows. This chapter is one in which Winnie has truly grown up even at the age of ten. She is now mature enough to understand why we sometimes must kill and why it’s also acceptable to mourn what we have done even if it were done for all the right reasons. Now it’s her turn to make a choice that most will label wrong, but which will be done for all the right reasons.
 * CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**
 * Notes**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO** Winnie goes directly to the fence the next morning. It is the hottest day yet and her family is treating her a little like a fragile egg. Leaning against bars of the fence, she thinks of Mae behind bars of her own. Then, lifting her head, she sees the Toad. She asks her grandmother for water, but by the time she returns, it is gone. Her grandmother asks her not stay out too long as Winnie slumps down on the grass and tries to figure out how to help Mae. Miraculously, just at that moment, Jesse appears. He tells Winnie that Miles has a plan to get Mae out. Being a carpenter, he knows how to remove the cell window, bars and all. They’re going to try it that night after it gets dark. He says he has come to say good-bye, and he gives her bottle of the spring water and tells her when she is seventeen to drink it and come find him. He is just about to leave when Winnie says she knows how she can help his mother – she’ll climb in the window after Mae is freed and take her place in the cell. She won’t be discovered until morning and that will give them time to get away. At midnight, she will leave with Jesse for the prison, and she will make a difference in the world.
 * Summary**

There is emphasis in this chapter on the motif of the wheel – August, the hottest month, when people make bad decisions is the apex of the Ferris wheel and Winnie is about to make a decision that may turn out to be the worst she’s ever made. However, she’s determined to do whatever she can to make a difference.
 * Notes**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE** It is the longest day of summer, the one where it is too hot to move or even think. Winnie sits in her room and waits, because there is nothing else she can do. She sees that the sky is changing, thickening somehow, and the smell of rain is in the air. It is a welcome thought, but it doesn’t alleviate her guilt that for the second time that week, she is going to do something she knows is forbidden. However, she has a strong sense of rightness even as she wonders if her family will ever trust her again. The Tucks need her and she will not disappoint them. She also thinks about the bottle of spring water and Jesse’s request. She falls asleep with these thoughts in her head. Later, she awakes with a jerk, fearful she has slept through the time. However, she gets up and checks the clock and knows she is all right, because it is five minutes until midnight.
 * Summary**

Just as the coming of the rain will change the terrible heat that holds Treegap in its grip, so the coming of midnight will change Winnie forever.
 * Notes**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR** Leaving the house is so easy that Winnie is shocked. No one stirs as she goes to the gate and she feels even guiltier that she has taken advantage of their trust. However, she knows there is no other way. Leaving her house is like leaving something real and moving into a dream. Jesse is there waiting and as they go by the jail, there is the gallows set up in the yard like a great L. As she meets up with the Tucks, she is reminded of a poem: //Stone walls do not a prison make,/Nor iron bars a cage.// They seem to be her mantra to give her courage. Miles begins to pry out the nails, one at a time, until they are all free. Now he must pull the window and the bars out without waking the Constable. He times it just right, pulling mightily just as thunder breaks. It takes two pulls, but the storm protects him. They pull chubby Mae through with some effort and then, one by one they kiss her and Winnie wonders if it’s rain on their faces or tears. Jesse is the last to bid her good-bye and whispers as he pulls away from their hug a single word, “Remember!”
 * Summary**

Then, Miles lifts her into the window and she waits to hear him replace the nails. But when she grabs the bars and looks out, the yard is empty. For a moment, she thinks she hears the tinkling little melody of the music box. Her darling Tucks are gone.

The quote that Winnie remembers repeatedly is by Richard Lovelace and was written to his love while he was in prison. It gives Winnie courage to do what she must, because the Tucks are the ones she loves. They silently leave her with memories and Jesse’s whisper, “Remember!”
 * Notes**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE** As this chapter opens, August is long over and the wheel has begun its downward spiral, bringing with it the changeless sweep of change. Mae and her family had not been found and Winnie is profoundly grateful. She will never forget that night and how in the end the gallows had been blown over by the wind. She also will never forget the Constable’s face when he came in with Mae’s breakfast that morning and discovered Winnie. He called her an accomplice and swore he would take her into custody. Her parents had asked over and over why she had done it, and it took her tearful admission against her mother’s shoulder that she had done it, because they were her friends to make her family finally understand. They drew staunchly around her, faced the accusations of the village, and held their heads high. Of course, she was confined to the yard indefinitely, but the other children were impressed with what she had done and had stepped forward to be her new friends.
 * Summary**

Now as she sits in the grass of the yard against the fence, two things happen: the Toad appears on her side of the road for the first time, and then, a large brown dog lopes up toward it as if to eat it. Winnie becomes panicked that the Toad will be killed and reaches as far through the bars as she can and snatches up the Toad just in time. Then, impulsively, she runs up the stairs to her room and grabs the bottle Jesse had left. Slowly and carefully, she pours the entire thing over the Toad to save him from death. She is sure if she needs it that she can find more when she turns seventeen. Then she sets the Toad free with the words, “You’re safe! Forever!”

It is ironic that the storm blows over the gallows, because the storm brings change to the hot days of August, and the gallows are blown away, because they would have brought a terrible change to the world. Winnie’s decision to make the Toad immortal is a touching one, indicating that she understands his role in these last few weeks, and she is grateful to him for what he helps teach her. It also is indicative that she is not completely sure she wants immortality even though it means giving up Jesse. She has until she is seventeen to make the decision, and there’s plenty of water in the spring.
 * Notes**

**Summary** The Tucks have returned to Treegap, but it is obviously many years after the events of Winnie’s August days. There are many changes in the village including cross streets and lines down the middle of them. The wood is completely gone, not a tree left and so is Winnie’s cottage. There is a gas station where the attendants chuckle at the Tucks in their horse-drawn wagon. There are many more businesses and a larger jailhouse. A black and white police car sits in front of it. They impulsively decide to stop for a cup of coffee at the diner to see if anyone knows anything. The counterman tells them that the wood was destroyed by a big electrical storm. A big tree in the middle was hit by lightning and set other trees on fire. They had to bulldoze everything out. Both Mae and Angus exchange meaningful glances.
 * EPILOGUE**

Then, Mae goes shopping for supplies while Angus searches for the local cemetery. He sees an imposing monument, slightly tipped now, with the name Foster carved into it and a few smaller gravestones standing around it. He finds one that makes him kneel with sadness. It says, “In loving memory/Winifred Foster Jackson/Dear Wife/Dear Mother/1870-1948.” He murmurs to himself that she has been gone for two years. He stands and makes a brief salute towards the stone and says aloud, “Good girl!” When he tells Mae that Winnie is gone, Mae says, “Poor Jesse,” to which Angus responds that they have known she wasn’t coming for a long time. Mae closes it all out with the comment that there was no need for them to come back there anymore. As they begin to roll away, Mae calls out to her husband to be careful of the Toad. He stops the wagon and picks it up and puts it back in the weeds with the comment, “The durn fool must think it’s going to live forever.” Soon they are rolling on again, the tinkling little melody of a music box drifting behind them.

The Epilogue does its job well by tying up all the loose ends. So much change has come to Treegap in the years between 1880 and 1950 that the Tucks almost don’t recognize it. The Ferris wheel has continued to roll on for everyone but the Tucks. The wood is gone; bulldozed over and so is the spring, which is a relief to the Tucks. They will never have to worry again that anyone will drink from it.
 * Notes**

Winnie is also gone, having made the decision, perhaps because of all that Angus had told her in the rowboat, to not drink from the spring. There is no way to tell if she ever regretted her choice, but the tombstone shows that she lived a full life as a wife and mother, something she never would have been able to experience if she had chosen the water. Angus’ salute to her is twofold: he honors her for helping them all those years ago, and he honors her for choosing the cycle of life over immortality.

Finally and ironically, the Tucks come across a little Toad that doesn’t seem to be afraid of their wagon or even the cars that speed by and nearly hit it. Angus’ comment that it must think it’s going to live forever is ironic as well, because this is Winnie’s Toad and he is going to live forever.

It is a perfect ending to a wonderful story that the final words to the reader are about the tinkling of the music box. They are a tie that binds all the thoughts, ideas, and characters of this story together.