Two appear in the fifth chapter, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” Here Brent is staying at the hostel in San Diego, when he hears and sees a man playing a concertina. (A concertina is an accordion, also called a squeezebox, which is often depicted as an instrument of Italians and a sound of Italy.) It makes a “cheery, reedy sound.” Brent envies “the man his power to entertain himself and others.” By the end of the chapter, Brent has bought himself a harmonica. He teaches himself some basic songs. Then he uses the harmonica to christen the new whirligig with music. From this point on, he plays the harmonica at various parts of his journey. He had not been particularly musical beforehand.
In the final chapter, “Everybody Swing!” Brent is in Weeksboro, Maine. He comes upon a place where people are square dancing. The music is “brisk, bouncy, and infectious.” He sees that the dancers form in essence “a human whirligig, set in motion by music instead of wind.” Someone grabs his hand and invites him to join along, and amazingly enough, he does. The Brent we met at the beginning of the book would never have done this, let alone with a bunch of strangers. But he quite enjoys himself here, in the final pages. This is one example of his transformation during this challenging time.
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