Sold on a Monday

Ellis wakes in the Palmer’s home with the realization that he still has not made up with his parents. He should, but he is “too tired to slap another bandage” on the wounds with his father (132). And, until he fixes the Dillard’s dilemma, he could never go to his father and ask for the respect he wants.

Ellis sees Samuel, who reminds him of Calvin, which spurs him on to get the day started. After breakfast, Lily and Ellis leave, but Ellis has trouble keeping his eyes on the road: He wants to look at Lily, whom he thinks is a naturally attractive. When they arrive at the train depot, they learn that Walter is not in and not scheduled to work on Sundays, but would be coming by at some point. When they hear church bells ring, Lily decides to talk to the pastor while Ellis waits for Walter, who shows up some time later.

Pastor Ron sends Lily to a school to find a teacher, Mrs. Stanton, who taught Ruby. She reminds the young boy she is teaching, Oliver, that if he misbehaves and licks another student he will get the paddle. When Oliver leaves, Mrs. Stanton asks if Lily is a child worker. Lily answers no, she is a reporter. Lily works quickly to get the information and asks Mrs. Stanton if she knows the children’s whereabouts and if Ruby is ill. Mrs. Stanton tells her that Mrs. Dillard is the one who is ill.

Ellis is speaking to Walter, who is describing the man who “did hand over a hefty pile of the green” for Ruby and Calvin (141). Walter describes the man as a banker, soft-spoken, and quite nice. When Walter spoke to him, the man was surprised that Walter knew he was a banker. But the banker just went on to “handle his business” concerning the children (141), which upset Ellis because he is not the only person involved with the sale of the children. Ellis then asks how the children were doing. Walter tells him that the boy had difficulty and it took some work to get him to go. The girl was “sniffling” but did not speak otherwise. Walter then directs Ellis to ask Blanche who works in the ticket booth to look up who the tickets were sold to in the last week of October. Walter can remember the date because it was around his wedding anniversary.

Lily leaves Mrs. Stanton to search for Geraldine’s doctor, Dr. Berkins. Lily explains to Berkins that she is inquiring about Geraldine Dillard, who has a condition, according to Ruby’s teacher. Berkins opens a folder, reviews his notes, then tells Lily that Geraldine was coughing blood and he suspected TB with only a few months to live. He recommended that Geraldine go to the Dearborn Sanitorium in Bucks County after she no longer had to the children to look after. Lily now better understands why Geraldine sold the children: A sanitorium was expensive. Lily returns to the depot to share the news with Ellis.