Ben and Cillian
- When he gets home, Todd is confronted by Cillian, who's in a bad mood, which puts Todd in a bad mood, too.
- Cillian starts ragging on Todd for not working hard enough to help them run the farm, and then they start Noise-fighting.
- As Todd walks off to take care of the sheep, Cillian catches Manchee thinking something about quiet. Todd walks away, ignoring Cillian, who asks him what it means.
- Their farm is one of the three sheep farms in town, so they have lots of work to do.
- Todd tracks down Ben by listening for his Noise, which is calmer than Cillian's.
- Ben and Todd's mom were friends in the Old World. It sounds like the perfect society: People loved each other, the sun shone, and nothing bad ever happened.
- Back in those days, Ben and Cillian worked next door to Todd's parents, and when his parents died, they took him in.
- Todd likes Ben much more than Cillian; he's a markedly more peaceful soul.
- Ben's Noise is also full of nicer and less important thoughts, like food and the weather.
- Todd tells Ben that he ran into Aaron, who hit him. Ben tells him to stay away from Aaron.
- If it were up to Todd, no one else would hear about the quiet in the swamp, but Manchee can't keep his barking to himself, so Todd asks Ben what Manchee's talking about.
- Ben's response? Todd needs to get away from Prentisstown. Pronto.