Summary

Part Two is titled “June 1935, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.” The section opens with the numbered notes and lyrics to America the Beautiful. In Chapter One, Mike Flannery has suffered through the heat all night in the Upper Boys' dormitory of Bishop's Orphanage. It is very early in the morning when he hears his younger brother, Frankie, whistle the final six notes of America the Beautiful. It is a signal between the boys that Frankie has an emergency. Mike goes to the second story window. Mike is eleven years old and has red hair. He is almost six feet tall and is self-conscious about it. The emergency is that Frankie heard staff saying that families were coming today to choose boys to take home with them. Frankie fears he and Mike will be separated. Mike says the agreement is that...