Page 105
By Jack Joseph Smith
By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
The court accepts the parents' plan to send Michael to Valley Forge Military School, and outside the hearing the Jesuit confirms that Saint Bernard's will hold him a little longer before he is sent away.
Release arrives only by exchanging one institution for another, so the decision feels less merciful than managerial. Michael's question is immediately practical and local, asking first whether he can finish at Saint Bernard's before facing the larger exile.
The judge accepts the parents' willingness to send him to military school; outside on the sun-struck stairs the Jesuit tells Michael a few secrets, notes the deep red mark in his eye, and Michael admits without Johnson they would have killed him.