Breakfast was subdued with Iris Stanhope gone; nine children ate in near silence. George Iles was humorless, Helen Simms ate candy cigarettes, and Harry Cross focused on food. The Wilcox twins, Greta and Gerda, ate only after Gladys coaxed them, which made Luke Ellis reflect on the small comforts that might hasten acceptance of the Institute’s routine, a mindset he feared.

Nicky Wilholm tried to engage Luke in a game of HORSE, offering handicaps and a ride, but Luke declined because it reminded him of his father. Nicky accepted this and left the invitation open. Luke wandered the corridors, noting motivational posters, many empty rooms with unmade beds, and the feel of an abandoned children’s jail, concluding the Institute once held far more kids.

Luke reached another lounge where the janitor Fred was buffing the floor. Outside there were unplugged vending machines, a gravel swath, benches, chainlink, and the green administrative building where Mrs. Sigsby worked. When Luke said he was just looking around, Fred ordered him back and menaced him with a zap-stick, cursing at him. Luke retreated, shaken by how quickly his assumptions about adult kindness had been overturned and wondering what truly happened to kids sent to Back Half.

Back near the ice machine corridor, Luke saw Maureen Alvorson’s laundry cart at Avery Dixon’s room and checked in. Maureen mentioned Avery had wet the bed, and Luke perceived, with new certainty he attributed to the Stasi Lights, that Maureen was unwell and lying about being fine. He felt sure the lights had changed him and was relieved the staff believed his earlier lie about failing the TP card test.

At the ice machine, Luke pretended to get ice and quietly gave Maureen two lawyer names—Leah Fink and Rudolph Davis from Vermont’s Legal Eagle site—asking if she could remember them. Maureen blessed him and, prompted by Luke’s curiosity, revealed that Avery was right about her savings: she had given up a baby through a church adoption years ago, later accessed church records, and found her son nearby, now a high school senior who wanted college. She saved money for his education, not her ex-husband’s debts.

Luke noticed Maureen’s sickly breath and believed she feared cancer. Before leaving, Maureen urged Luke to do everything the staff said and advised that if he needed to talk about anything, he should do it at the ice machine, pointedly repeating this warning when Luke suggested there might be other safe places.