The next morning, Sister Anne managed to call Robert Anthony into her office for a short visit. She let him know that she was keeping a close watch on him, and that he didn't have to worry about Buck Cross trying to undercut his authority. “He knows who is in charge, and wishes only to be allowed to learn. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Ma'am,” Robert answered. “I'm not sure why you think I'm trying to show this Buck Cross anything; he's not even in my dormitory.”

“I saw you last evening,” Sister Anne replied. “I also saw how he reacted to being knocked down. I won't have you scaring him.” She stood and ushered Robert out of her office. “Just remember that I'm not the only one watching,” she said.

The boy simply nodded and went to join the older boys. They were soon laughing and playing as they made they're way across the yard to the classrooms. Sister Anne watched to make sure they didn't bother any of the other children on the way. As she stood surveying the yard, she noticed that she wasn't the only way watching this particular group of boys. They were being carefully studied by both Ike and Buck.

She offered up a quick prayer that her talk didn't cause any more trouble; she was never sure with Robert how things were going to go. All she knew for sure was that if Robert wanted to get a reaction out of Buck, he was going to have to escalate his attacks. As she turned her attention back to the task of completing managing the mission, she hoped her talk had managed to let him know there was no reason to do so.

Buck watched the older boys as they joked and played. He wished that he could know that kind of camaraderie just once in his life. He also noticed the quiet boy, Ike, watching them. He thought about approaching him, but decided against it when the bell rang for classes to begin; he would have to try again later.

As Buck went into class he watched to see where Ike went. He noticed him moving toward the stockyard, and decided that during their afternoon break he would go see if he could find Ike there. He hoped he would be able to take the afternoon break; he had a feeling he would be practicing his writing. He had done fair when using his left hand, but Sister Mary Margaret had told him that he would need to use his right hand. She had said something about the left hand doing the work of the devil; he wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he knew it wasn't a good thing. He had a feeling that he would be spending many a break practicing his writing until he was able to do it correctly with his right hand.

As the other students made their way out to the yard for the morning break, Buck realized that his only chance at ever getting to join them was to learn how to do this. He wondered if there was a way to make it so his left hand didn't work; then he'd have to use his right hand for everything. If he had to learn to use it to survive, he'd surely be able to learn how to use it to make marks on paper. As he continued to struggle with the urge to simply move the pencil to his other hand, he noticed Robert and his buddies tormenting some of the other children. Maybe, he could cause them to hurt him. It shouldn't be too difficult. All he'd have to do was “accidentally” bump into Robert again.

When the other children came back into class, Buck had finally managed to copy one Bible verse in an acceptable manner. He was allowed to complete the rest of the day's lessons using his left hand, so that he didn't hold everyone back. Sister Mary Margaret made sure that he knew this was only a temporary arrangement; she wasn't going to have him using “the devil's hand” any longer than absolutely necessary.

By the time they were going to evening prayers, Buck had forgotten all about trying to meet Ike. He was now contemplating how to get Robert Anthony to break his left arm. He had thought it would be easy, but whatever Sister Anne had said to Robert that morning must have made an impression. The older boy made sure to keep a distance between them; it was going to take some planning in order accomplish this task. As the others offered up prayers to this white god, Buck asked the spirits to help him.