Summary
Chapter 11
Luke watches the window of the Sports family's house closely, hoping to see the child's face again. He watches for several days, and on the fourth day, one of the blinds on the upstairs window flips quickly up and down. On the seventh day, he sees a light go on and off in a downstairs room two hours after the rest of the members of the Sports family have left. A half hour later, the mother of the Sports family returns and puts down the blind on the downstairs window.
On the thirteenth day, the windows are open due to unseasonably warm weather, though the blinds are still drawn. Luke thinks he sees the glow of a TV scene, and now has no doubts that someone is hiding in the Sports Family house. He wonders what he can do about this.
Chapter 12
The harvest comes, and Luke's brothers help his father take the crops in. Luke's mother takes some overtime shifts at the factory, and she leaves some fruit and crackers for Luke so that he doesn't get hungry when she's gone.
Luke only sometimes watches the windows of the Sports family's house now. Even if there were another secret third child living there, he isn't sure how he could make contact with this other child.
As the long, lonely days go by, he begins to think of a new plan - what if he sneaks into the Sports family house and meets this child himself? He plots a route where he can use the bushes and barn to hide himself. He knows that this idea is both crazy and dangerous, but he can't stop thinking about it.
One day, he looks out and sees that the maple leaves are shot through with shades of red and yellow. He panics because he knows that he needs these leaves to shield him on his way to the Sports Family's house. He continues to wonder if he has the nerve to try this wild idea.
It rains for several days, which means Luke cannot take the risk, lest he leaves footprints in the mud. One day after the rains are done, he realizes that this will be his last chance before spring to make the journey. He watches people leave in their cars and moves out of the house through the back door.
Chapter 13
Luke enjoys the fresh air - he has not been outside in months. He feels suddenly more alive and free. He half-runs, half-crawls alongside the house and barn, and faces the open space between two houses. He's always been afraid of open spaces, with good reason, but he knows he needs to run forward. The thought of returning home, to a place that has become a prison, is intolerable.
He runs forward and pulls at the door of the Sports family's house, only to find that it's locked.
Chapter 14
Luke hadn't ever imaged that the door to the Sports family house would be locked, even though he knows his own parents lock up every night. He knows that every moment he's in the open is a moment he's in danger, but he doesn't know what to do. Finally, he plunges his hand through the screen and opens the lock from the inside.
The house and all the furniture are fancy and new, unlike Luke's own, which are ancient and worn. He hears someone cough from an upstairs room and then hears a strange beeping sound. He heads down a hallway as the beeps turn into a long buzz. Luke looks into a room and sees a strange machine that he recognizes as a computer, with a girl sitting at it, typing away.
Luke is shocked. He has never met a girl his own age, and he always assumed that the Sports family's third child would be another boy.
The girl turns her head and looks at Luke. Before he can explain who he is, she has knocked him down and twisted his arm up behind his back. She says that he probably thought he was clever to sneak up on a girl all alone, but in a moment the security guards will arrive at their house and take him into custody. Luke whispers that the Population Police can't come, and the girl lets him go.
Chapter 15
The girl initially thinks that Luke is lying, but then realizes that he is another Shadow Child like her. Luke is unfamiliar with the term, but the girl explains that it means a third child who is illegal under the Population Law.
The girl remembers that the alarm is still going, and she calls her father to shut off the alarm. In order to make him follow her directions, she reminds him that the punishment for harboring a Shadow Child is a massive fine or execution. Luke is shocked at the fact that she bosses her parents around in this way.
Luke says that the Government will be able to track her from the phone call, but the girl replies that the government isn't that competent. She introduces herself - she is Jennifer Rose Talbot. Luke introduces himself as well, and Jen is shocked to learn that he has never met anyone outside of his immediate family. Jen explains that she mostly has to hide as well, but her parents are very good at bribery. She asks how he knew she was here, and Luke explains the signs he noticed - a face in the window, the blinds flipping up and down, and so on.
Luke tells her about his very limited life, and Jen explains that he has come to the right place: she is his ticket out.
Analysis
This section and the prior one make subtle hints at the presence of a third child in the Sports family house. Luke sees things move in the house during the day when no one is there, and he notices that the curtains are closed at dinnertime - just like the curtains in his house, which are meant to hide his presence.
Luke's already limited circumstances grow ever worse. He loses what little freedom he has. First, he cannot go outside; next, he cannot go downstairs; then he cannot eat dinner with the family at the table or even spend time with his mother. These restrictions come at a time when his brothers are growing up and he is realizing that he will never be able to make friends or form a family like they have. Because of this lack of freedom and the sense that he has little to lose, he is more willing to take risks, such as coming downstairs when no one else is home, or running over to the Sports family's house.
The locked door of the Sports family house is an example of dramatic irony. Luke does all the careful planning that he possibly could, only to be undermined by a simple locked door. This reinforces the limited scope of Luke's experience in the world: he seems to be gifted enough at critical thinking to make an effective plan for getting into the Sports family's house, but he doesn't actually know enough about the world to consider the possibility of locks.
This section introduces the theme of power. Luke's parents attempt to have power over Luke, but Luke realizes that he can defy them and pursue his own interests. He begins to realize the complex nature of power when Jen convinces her father to do her bidding by reminding him that the punishment for harboring a Shadow Child is a massive fine or execution.
