December is almost here. Jonas is feeling very nervous and anxious about what’s going to happen in December, it’s a very big deal for him and all the other elevens in the community. Right away we know something is up. In the community, supplies are brought in by cargo plane. Once, when he saw a jet flying overhead, he was frightened by it and felt very apprehensive. After the jet flew by, everyone was ordered to go inside immediately. Jonas remembers that, at the time, his younger sister Lily was at the Childcare Center. The community seems like a highly controlled society. The citizens all have specific jobs, like Street Cleaners or Landscape Workers. We are told that the captain flew over the community by accident, and that he would be “released” for his mistake. Next we see Jonas at dinner with his family. They go through a ritual where each person talks about their feelings. Jonas makes his sister Lily, a Seven, go first. She talks about feeling angry during playtime earlier that day, at a "visiting group of Sevens" who weren't playing by the rules. Lily's parents explain that the visitors were only breaking the rules because they didn't understand the rules and Lily stops being angry.
            Jonas's Father, a "Nurturer," talks about his day at work. Nurturers in the community take care of new-born children, we're told. He's concerned for a newborn baby boy whose health is failing. We learn that there are three reasons for a citizen to be released from the community. The first, we already know, is for punishment. The second is for the very old, and the third is for newborns that, for one reason or another, can't stay to be raised in the community. Jonas's Father says he may bring the baby home for while, so someone can look closely after him at night. Then Jonas's Mother, who works at the Department of Justice, talks about her feelings. Today she had to deal with a "repeat offender," someone who keeps breaking the rules. By "repeat offender" she means he's broken two rules; if he breaks a third, he has to get released.
            And now it's Jonas's turn. He wishes he could hide his feeling of apprehension, but that would be against the rules. So he talks about how he's apprehensive about the Ceremony of Twelve in December. Jonas's Mother and Father send Lily away so they can speak with Jonas in private.