The Sieve and the Sand
Mildred and Montag read books all through the afternoon, occasionally reading interesting lines out loud to one another. At one point while they are reading, they hear scratching at the door. Montag instantly knows it is the Hound, but Mildred thinks it is just a regular dog. When Mildred gets up to go shoo the dog away, Montag tells her to ignore the dog and sit back down.
When Mildred gets up to answer the phone, Montag thinks back to a night when he met an English professor at the park. He remembers talking to an English professor, Faber, and he recalls that Faber had recited poems to him. Montag decides to call Faber, who answers and denies that he owns any books. Faber hangs up.
Mildred comes back into the room and announces that her friends are coming over. Mildred also tells him to turn in all the books to Captain Beatty, but Montag does not want to because he wonders if he will be destroying the last copy of the Bible, or Mr. Jefferson, or any of the other books that he has. Montag decides that he must have a copy of the books made before he gives them to Captain Beatty.
Montag goes onto a subway and has a Bible on his lap that he is trying to memorize. Montag keeps reading the same line of the Bible over and over agin because he cannot concentrate because an ad of 'Denham's Dentifrice' is playing. Montag gets so annoyed with the ad that he starts yelling at the subway train to shut up, and people are staring at him and the book in his hands. Montag gets off at the next stop.
Montag arrives at Faber's house, who lets Montag in his house only after being assured that Montag is alone.
Faber tells Montag what makes books so special that people are willing to die for them: books have quality, leisure to digest the books, and the right to carry out an action based on the first two. Faber tells Montag that it is not books necessarily that are so special, but it is the ideas inside them.
Montag begins to tell Faber his plan to have books copied and printed when Faber interrupts him and tells him that he is a coward and will have nothing to do with it. He is too afraid of being caught and having his house burned. Luckily, Montag convinces him of his plan to plant books in firefighters homes planting seeds of suspicion in the government. Then having old actors who cannot act anymore, and professors who cannot teach, and anyone else who wants to join the cause, because it is all too aware of the world, ban together and help them set fires all across the country.
After their plan is all set, Montag asks Faber if he can help him when he has to see Captain Beatty tonight. Faber shows him a seashell that works both ways, (kinda like a radio) where Faber and Montag can communicate without being in the same room.
Montag returns home to see Mildred's friends over. Montag tries to talk to them, but they keep talking about non-important or non-existent subjects. Montag, infuriated, leaves the room and returns with a book in his hand. All the while Faber is yelling in his ear that he is about to ruin everything, that all that they just planned will be ruined. Surprisingly, Mildred saves the day by saying that every year a firefighter is allowed to take home one book and read it to people to show everyone how silly it is.
Montag begins to read a poem from one of his books. One of Mildred's friends begins to cry. After Montag is finished reading the poem, Montag, listening to Faber, puts the book into the incinerator. Mildred tries to soothe her crying friend down, but the other lady there refuses to stay at Montag and Mildred's house. Montag starts yelling at both of Mildred's friends to leave.
Montag goes to the firehouse, where Captain Beatty, a couple other firefighters, and himself are playing cards. Captain Beatty starts to tell Montag about a dream that he had where Montag and himself were having a quote-war. Beatty would say a quote and then Montag would reply with another that contridicts what Beatty said. At the end of Captain Beatty's dream Beatty finally convinces Montag that books are wrong.
Then, the firehouse alarm rings. There has been another report of someone reading books. Captain Beatty tells everyone to suit up and that this is a special case.
The first thing that Montag notices is that Captain Beatty is driving the Salamander. Captain Beatty never drives. When the Salamander stops, Montag finally looks up. Montag says "Why, we have stopped in front of my house."