In contrast to the structure at home, the Tuck house is full of gentle chaos, which makes Winnie feel free from her mother and grandmother’s orderly life. The idea of people living cluttered astonishes her, and she wonders if the Tuck’s don’t tidy up because “they think they have forever to clean it up” (55).

Mae explains that she and Tuck live in the house year-round while Jesse and Miles go to different places and take jobs. Every 10 years, they come home for the first week of August so the family can be together wherever they are living. They’ve been in this house for almost 20 years, which means they’ll need to move on soon, so people don’t suspect anything. Winnie remarks that being forced to move sounds sad, but Mae pushes away her sorrow, saying “Life's got to be lived, no matter how long or short” (56).

Winnie sits down to dinner with the Tucks, who don’t talk at all during the meal. The silence gives Winnie time to think, and she questions believing their story so readily. The Tucks promise again to take her home after they’ve explained the importance of keeping the spring’s secret. Tuck worries there is little time left to make her understand, to which Jesse laughs and remarks that “time's the only thing we got a lot of” (60).