Summary
Chapter 6
Dad, Matthew, and Mark load up the pigs and sell them off. A tax bill arrives on the same day, and Mother is stunned to see that it’s almost three times the usual amount. Dad says that Williker, one of their neighbors, experienced the same rise in his tax bill, and says that the increase is because the value of their land is greater now that the housing complex is being built. Luke has deeply enjoyed watching the process of building the apartments, but he, along with the rest of the family, is shocked at how much money they owe the Government.
Luke asks if this might be a good thing, and Dad replies that it’s only good if they plan to sell the land.
Matthew asks how they’re going to pay. The tax bill costs more than they got for the pigs, and that money was supposed to last them for a long time. Mother quietly says that she got a work permit and plans to get a position in a factory. Luke is shocked by this, and wonders whom he will talk to all day while the rest of his family is gone.
Chapter 7
Luke’s days are repetitive. He sits on the stairs while the rest of the family eats breakfast. He can eat slowly, but they need to rush in order to head out the door.
After the rest of his family leaves, Luke looks out through the vents at the construction of the new houses. They are huge, almost mansions, and the construction workers are now spending their time furnishing the interiors of the houses.
People are also starting to arrive at the houses, often led by a chatty woman who is probably a real estate agent. The new owners of the houses are wealthy city people, who are called Barons. Barons have a great deal of money and power, and often have things that no one else has access to.
Luke’s father and brothers dislike the Barons. They call their fancy clothing “sissy clothes.” Even the children are dressed up. Luke watches the families head into the houses with their children, always keeping a lookout for another third child. Luke daydreams about being adopted by a family with only one child.
Sometimes Luke reads his family’s small collection of books. His mother had taught him how to read and do math, and he especially likes to read adventure stories. Around midday, he eats lunch with his father. Since Mother works at a factory now, they eat only sandwiches.
Mother comes home in the evenings, and she can only spend a very short amount of time with Luke before rushing to get all of her housework done before bed. Sometimes Matthew and Mark spend a little bit of time with Luke as well, but they can no longer go outside and play football the way they used to. Luke knows that they would rather be outside than indoors trying to keep him company.
The part of the day he enjoys the most is when Mother comes to tuck him in. She reads to him sometimes, or she tells him stories about the factory. One night, she falls asleep in the middle of telling him about a funny event at the factory. He notices that her hair is now more gray than brown, and her face is lined and tired.
She starts suddenly and says that he still needs to be tucked in. Luke says that his brothers didn’t need to be tucked in when they were his age, so he doesn’t need it either.
Chapter 8
One day, Luke’s family rushes out the door even more quickly than usual. Luke looks around at the chaos of the kitchen and notices that someone has pulled the blinds over the window. Feeling safe that he is shielded from the view of any passing person, he walks into the kitchen and decides that he’ll clean it as a surprise for Mother.
First, though, he climbs up to look through his vent and make sure that all of the families from the neighboring housing complex have left. Luke has given them names: the Big Car Family has four expensive cars; the Birdbrain Family has put up a row of birdhouses along their backyard; the Sports Family has a vast amount of sports equipment. He counts each person as they leave – 28 in all. Now that the coast is clear, he heads down to clean the kitchen and decides to make bread. However, Dad comes home early and lectures Luke for taking such a risk. Luke says that he made sure that everyone was gone from their neighborhood, but Dad says that someone could have returned unexpectedly and noticed Luke. Dad orders Luke to stay hidden, and Luke runs back to his room.
Luke peers through the vents at the housing complex, and notices something in the window of the Sports Family: another child peering through the window, even though the two boys of the family have already left for the day.
Chapter 9
Luke is shocked. He wonders if the person in the window is a maid or thief, but he is certain that it’s a child. He becomes even surer of his discovery when the rest of the Sports Family returns home and no maid or thief leaves the house.
Mother comes and apologizes to Luke for Dad’s outburst. She explains how important it is for him to remain hidden. Luke asks desperately if he’s just supposed to sit in this room for the rest of his life, and Mother says that he can always read and play in his room. Luke is frustrated. He wonders if the child he glimpses through the window of the Sports family is a third child like him and if that child would understand him.
Chapter 10
At dinner, Luke’s mother puts out the bread that he made on special plates. However, Luke made some kind of mistake and the bread has come out flat and lopsided. Luke asks to sit at the table, saying that the shades are drawn and no one will notice his presence. Luke’s father says that someone might still see his shadow through the shade and become suspicious.
Luke’s father is in a bad mood because he wasn’t able to afford any of the tractors that came up for auction. Luke’s mother makes the rest of the family eat the bread Luke made, which tastes terrible and makes all of them miserable.
Luke’s brother Mark complains about the disgusting bread, and Luke sarcastically remarks that he put a poison in it that only affects fourteen-year-olds. Luke wonders what would happen if something happened to one of his brothers: might that mean that he would be able to attend school and go out into the town? Mark pretends to choke on the bread, saying it’s disgusting and terrible.
Dad says that he doesn’t want any of his sons getting too good at baking, and Mark teasingly asks if Luke is getting married soon. Luke realizes that he will never be able to leave the house, let alone meet a girlfriend or get married, and Luke asks to be excused. He returns to his room and looks out through the vent at the families in the housing complex eating dinner. He can see all of them except for the Sports family, who have their curtains drawn.
Analysis
Circumstances are growing direr for Luke and his family. Not only did they have to give up their hogs because of the new development, they also have had their taxes raised despite the fact that they've seen no benefits from their land supposedly increasing in value.
These changes are particularly impactful for Luke, who is losing access to the only people he has in his life. In Chapter 7, he noticed his mother’s tiredness and age for the first time, after she spends some time with him after working hard at the farm and at the factory. Luke feels guilty that she is spending an hour of her busy day tucking him in.
When he is bickering with his brothers at the dinner table, Luke realizes that he will probably never be able to get married, which is a huge blow. He begins to wonder what will happen to him as his brothers grow and eventually leave the home. Will he need to spend his entire life hiding? Or is there some other way?
This section contains undertones of libertarianism, a philosophy critical of governmental control in any aspect of life. In Luke's world, the Government hands down rigid, bizarre, and life-altering edicts without any clear reason, such as the prohibitions on the family keeping hogs and the sudden increase in their tax bill. In reality, it's important to limit farming activity in residential areas, and property taxes are generally handled by local municipalities such as towns and cities.
