The Lost Boy

The next day Rudy takes David to stay in the local juvenile hall to await trial. A few days later, he receives a visit from his father after not seeing him for a year. His father yells at him for getting in trouble with the law after causing problems for the family by ending up in foster care. His father’s anger makes David feel as if he is to blame for his parents’ drinking, recent separation, and his brothers’ miserable lives with his mother. That evening, Lilian visits David and tells him that his mother is trying to convince his father to sign papers saying that David is “incorrigible” and that his bad behavior forced her to discipline him using “unconventional” tactics (202). His mother wants to have him removed from foster care and put into a mental institution. Lilian assures David that she and Rudy are fighting to stay his legal guardians but warns him that his mother will use everything she can to convince the county to have him put away. He needs to be on his “absolute best behavior” while he is at Hillcrest so that his counselors and probation officer, Gordon Hutchenson, will write him favorable reports (207).