Echo

Pennyweather, one of the supervisors at the orphanage, calls Mike and Frankie at 3 p.m. on Friday. Pennyweather tells them to stand still and behave because Mr. Rutledge and Mrs. Rutledge are coming soon and they want two boys to foster, which is very rare.

When Mr. Rutledge and Mrs. Rutledge arrive, Mr. Rutledge says he was originally looking for boys strong enough to help with farm work, but he just hired some boys to work for him. Because of that, now he only needs one younger boy to please his mother. He tries to take just Frankie without Mike, but Frankie lunges at Mr. Rutledge and bites him. The Rutledges leave, and Pennyweather gets angry with Frankie and Mike. Mike reminds Pennyweather that she promised Frankie and Mike’s grandmother, Granny, that she’d keep them together, but Pennyweather says the promise was just to try. She threatens to hire Mike out on a farm, lying that he is old enough to work and that she just doesn’t have his birth certificate. She also threatens to send Frankie to a state home next September.