The Silent Boy

Katy is bored at home and asks her father to take her along to work. He is reluctant because he is headed to the asylum and Katy will have to wait outside. She promises to stay in the buggy and read her book. While there, her father tells her to get out and walk up and down the drive once in a while to keep warm. As she does, she hears a loud scream coming from inside the asylum. She looks up to where the sound is coming from and can only see barred windows. When her father returns she tells him what she heard. He is sorry and didn’t realize she would be able to hear that. She asks if he can help the people in the asylum. He explains that he was called there to help someone with a stomachache, which he can fix, but he doesn’t know how to fix the problems that these patients have in their heads. He tells her “some walk back and forth, back and forth. One dances, all alone. Others sing, or talk” (110). Others doctors are working on solutions, and he hopes they will find treatments and cures.