His mother told him that she understood it was hard for Luke to live in hiding, she told him he was a trooper, and she also said that things could be worse. He went and sat on his bed before she entered because he did not want his parents to learn about the vents for fear that they would forbid him from looking out them. He watched the construction workers and observed them until his mother knocked on the door. After Mark left Luke discovered two vents one on each side of the attic which allowed him to look down outside. Luke got mad at Mark and refused saying that his mother probably made him offer to play. Luke ran up to his bedroom in the attic and began playing with his train until Mark came up and offered to play checkers with him. Then Mark knocked on the front door from outside playing gone of his “Population Police” tricks.
One day when he was peeking under the shade his father asked him if he was trying to become discovered and then forbade him from going near any uncovered windows and looking outside. Now Luke would rather be able to go outside than to play with the train. Luke was playing with a train the same train that he longed for when Mark would play with it as a young boy. He also decided that he did not mind hiding so much anymore until they took the woods away. After learning all this Luke finally understood why he had been hiding and why he has to continue to hide. He learns all about the law that each family was only allowed to have two children, the population police, and how his mother hid his pregnancy. When his mother comes inside Luke asks her why he is different than Mark and Matthew and why he has to hide. He sees his brothers having a great time. Luke watches from the forbidden window as his family work outside. Then when they heard tires on the gravel driveway Luke mother hid his dinner plate and moved his chair to the corner of the kitchen to make it look like he did not exist. Luke brothers Mark and Matthew complained that he would not be able to do as many chores anymore. The family discusses how Luke was no longer allowed to go outside and that they had to be more careful so that no one would find out about Luke. His father told him the government wanted it and they had no choice but to give the government what they wanted. While the Garners ate dinner Luke asked his parents why they sold the woods next to their farmhouse. Luke was outside when he heard his mother call him to come inside and he obeyed her command.