Before We Were Yours: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

It takes Rill two weeks to learn that all the kids in the house are wards of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. Every day she sneaks to the window of Mrs. Murphy’s office to listen even though she knows she’ll be in trouble if she gets caught. After listening to Murphy’s conversations for a while, Rill realizes that “wards” are kids whose parents don’t come for them, and so they are given to new parents. Rill thinks this must be what happened to Sherry and considers herself lucky—Rill has parents who will come for her. One day Rill hears Murphy and Mrs. Pulnik talk about Stevie, who’s been wetting the bed. Murphy says he must be tied to his bed until he learns not to wet it.

Rill also learns that she and her siblings are being saved for a viewing. She doesn’t know what this means but thinks it might mean that Briny is coming to see them. However, this worries her because recently a man came to see his son, Lonnie, only to find out that Lonnie was adopted out even though the man wanted to bring him back home—the devastated man cried on the porch for his son until Mr. Riggs carried him away.

When Rill leaves the window, she takes care to hide her tracks both to avoid being caught by Mrs. Pulnik and because she’s afraid of what will happen if Mr. Riggs ever finds her alone there—there are rumors that Riggs hurts children and that if they talk about it then he kills them. Rill is becoming more and more worried about Riggs, who continues to leave peppermints for her and her siblings by their door (which is now locked every night). Rill is worried about what will happen if she and the younger kids are moved upstairs where there is no locked door between them and Riggs.

Once she’s back with her siblings, Rill holds Stevie, who has a painful goose egg under his hair from a nurse hitting him. Camellia asks Rill what she heard at the window. Rill says she didn’t hear anything about Briny and Camellia says he must be in jail and Queenie must be dead. Rill yells at her and the two get in a fight. Camellia is about to punch Rill when one of the big boys comes out and shoves Camellia down. Rill gets mad at him and he threatens to hurt Camellia again if Rill doesn’t agree to be his girlfriend. Rill agrees, although it makes her uncomfortable. They hold hands and talk for the rest of the day—Rill even begins to like him and the protection he offers. However, the next day he is missing, and the nurses say he was sent away.

One afternoon the kids are bathed and dressed for a special occasion: a bookmobile is coming, but only the most well-behaved kids can borrow a book. Mrs. Murphy makes Rill leave her siblings in the house while she picks a book for them to share. While Rill waits her turn at the bookmobile, she hears Georgia Tann tell reporters that all the kids in the home were “unwanted and unloved,” but are well taken care of while they wait for adoptive parents. In her mind, Rill screams to the reporters that she has loving parents and that they should go into the house and see the poor living conditions. Outwardly, she patiently waits until one of the women calls her over and helps her pick out a book—Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which reminds Rill of her parents and former happiness and offers an escape from life in the orphanage.

About a week later, Rill sees Tann’s car pull up at the home again. Rill finds a safe spot to hide and listens to Tann and Mrs. Murphy talk. Tann talks about an advertisement she placed in a paper about available blond children and that people are already calling to ask about them. Tann tells Murphy to have all the kids bathed, dressed, and ready to go to the viewing party on Saturday. She emphasizes how important it is for the kids to understand that they can’t do or say anything to embarrass Tann at the party because some of the best families in the nation will be there. Murphy agrees and Tann gives her a list of kids. Murphy is surprised to see the name “May” on the list.

Rill goes back to her siblings but doesn’t bother telling Camellia they might need an extra bath—Rill has a bad feeling Camellia won’t need one because she doesn’t have blond hair. When Saturday comes around, Rill realizes she was right. She, Fern, Lark, and Gabion take an extra bath, but Camellia doesn’t have to. Rill begs Camellia to be good as a worker yells for Rill to line up with the other kids. Once they’re dressed, the kids are loaded into cars and they silently drive over the river. As they cross the bridge, Rill senses “May fade[]” and her true self emerge as she stretches toward the window to catch the smell of the river.

The car pulls up to a large house and the kids are herded through the doors. Inside, couples mill about, talking to Tann and the children. Rill sees Lark coloring with one woman, Gabion playing with a couple, and a woman reading to Fern. The woman calls to her husband, Darren, and says that Fern is “perfect.” Darren excuses himself, saying he must talk to someone. He sits next to Rill, points to Fern, and asks if they’re sisters. Rill says they are, and he asks her how old she is as he sets his hand on her back.