Among the Impostors

Luke yells out in disappointment and disbelief at the message in Mr. Talbot’s note. He hoped the note would provide him with more information to help him make sense of his new life. He rips the note apart in anger and decides Mr. Talbot was just making fun of him, playing a practical joke. He imagines that Mr. Talbot is still laughing about it.

Despite Luke’s anger about the note, he falls asleep in the woods. When he wakes up, he decides he doesn’t want to go back to school. But he has no idea where he is or how to get back home. He doesn’t have his I.D. card, which he needs in order to prove he isn’t a third child. He also knows that even if he could get home, returning would put his family’s life in danger. He momentarily entertains living out in the woods, living on nuts and berries, but knows realistically he’d be found or he’d starve. He realizes he must go back to school but vows to visit the woods again.

Luke puts off returning to school until dusk, and panics that the door may be locked, but finds it is open. A hall monitor asks Luke why he’s by the classrooms, and tells Luke that he should be in the dining hall with everyone else. Luke explains that he got lost going to the bathroom. When the hall monitor says that the bathroom is right across from the dining hall, Luke claims he’s new and doesn’t feel well. The monitor believes him—although Luke detects some unexplained panic in the monitor’s voice—and turns him toward the dining hall. Luke bitterly tells Mr. Talbot in his mind that he’s blending in, exactly as advised. However, he feels his anger has lessened and he knows he’s gotten away with being outside all day. It gives him the confidence to do it again.

The following morning, Luke fixates on returning to the woods. He easily finds his way to the door, but a voice in his head tells him he shouldn’t go outside. He decides to go to class instead and feels brave and clever for listening to his intuition. His confidence grows as he realizes he needs to calmly assess movements around the door before he tries to exit again. In his emboldened state, he starts noticing the other boys for the first time. He sees that some are rocking back and forth in their seats, which he feels is strange. He finds the courage to make eye contact with classmates as they walk past in the hallways. Even though he is afraid and shaking, he realizes he never noticed others because he was trying not to be noticed himself, and discovers that a few classmates look back at him, locking eyes. He worries that through the act, he’s given away some information and “now they’ll know” (55), although he’s not exactly clear who “they” are.

Luke waits a full week to go back to the woods. In the meantime, he observes the school closely and raises many questions. He wonders first and foremost why there are no windows in the building at all. He explores the entire school, even going into the kitchen, where two cooks give him 10 demerits, and determines that there is not a single window anywhere. Based on his memory and previous experiences, he knows that a building without windows is unusual. Luke also notices that there are boys who rock back and forth in all his classes, although they do not concern him as much as “the starers” (57)—the boys who look back at him when he makes eye contact with them. He notes that the hall monitors and jackal boy are starers. When jackal boy bullies him, he’s tempted to ask him all his pressing questions, but figures jackal boy would realize Luke is a third child and report him. Luke is so distracted by his questions that he forgets to whisper his real name that night in bed.

Luke goes to the woods everyday between lunch and dinner so he can attend meals and some classes. He starts clearing weeds around budding raspberry bushes so he can eat them. He is again reminded of home and his mother’s raspberry baked goods and jam. Luke imagines plans for an entire garden but realizes with disappointment that he doesn’t have any seeds. He hears his mother’s words telling him to make the best of his situation and figures he can transplant some more berry plants in the woods. He also realizes that he can take some seeds from his meals. Thinking to the future of the garden sends him in a spiral of thinking about being at the school for a year with nothing that is truly his own. The garden is something that he feels he can have for himself.

Within a week Luke begins growing his garden. He has raspberry bushes and bean sprouts and he always keeps an eye on the time using his watch. Unfamiliar with the Roman numerals, he learns to tell the time by comparing them to the position of the sun and the clocks at school. He is proud of his achievement, as well as his decision to add potatoes to his garden. After eating an undercooked potato during a meal, he realizes he only needs a raw potato to grow them in his garden. He collects them in the dining hall from various plates, hiding them in his pocket, then plants them in the garden. He waters the plants from a nearby creek, using his hands to cup the water, and he realizes he actually feels happy.