The Winter People

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of violence and child death.

January 25, 1908

Sara reflects on how Gertie had loved to hide in the bedroom closet. The morning after Martin found Sara sitting on the floor in the middle of the night, Sara knocks on the bedroom closet door. She hears Gertie knock back. Sara asks Gertie if she is hungry, and Gertie knocks once, meaning “yes.” Sara brings Gertie food and leaves it outside the bedroom door and then goes into the hall.

A few minutes later, Sara hears the closet door open. She hears the plate and glass break. Sara goes back into the room and apologizes to Gertie. She says she will make Gertie her favorite molasses cookies instead. Sara is happy Gertie is back.

Martin rides into town to see his brother, Lucius. On the way, he sees someone he doesn’t recognize wrapped up in a hat and scarf ride past toward the house. While in town, Martin runs into Amelia. She says she will come by the house tomorrow and take Sara to a luncheon with some other women. Martin goes into Lucius’s medical office. He tells Lucius that Sara thinks Gertie is in their closet.