They Cage the Animals at Night

Jennings is a child walking with his mother in Brooklyn. She is tense, but he will not explain what is wrong. They enter an old building and are greeted by a nun. The nun talks alone with his mother, and his mother leaves him in a room filled with noisy children. She hugs and kisses him repeatedly, tells him she will be right back, and she leaves.

Jennings is left alone and uncomfortable as the rest of the children stare at him. He falls asleep, and an angry nun wakes him up and walks him past a long room filled with beds and barred windows to a bathroom. He is told to wash up, and when he cries, she strikes him across the face. She then shows him to his bed, number 27.

The next morning, he follows the other children as they line up and file into the dining room, directed by a nun named Sister Frances who uses a clicker to direct the children. When Jennings sits at the chair before she clicks the clicker, she pulls him up by his ear and chastises him. He is forced to skip breakfast. After eating, they file into a playroom, where Jennings once again sits by himself.

Four older boys make fun of his name and call him “Jenny.” A younger boy named Mark introduces himself to Jennings and explains that this is the Home of the Angels, a home for orphans and children in foster care. Mark explains that rule number one is not to think about going home, because it will just drive him mad.

Later, when Jennings cannot find his chair at lunch, Sister Frances makes him miss lunch, his second missed meal of the day. Later, the bullies pick on Jennings and Mark again, but Mark skillfully ignores them. Mark and Jennings talk, and Jennings reveals he has five brothers and a sister who died after she was born. His father died in the war many years ago, although we find out later that his father is in fact alive and is an alcoholic. One of Jennings’ brothers, Jerome, is slowly dying in the hospital.

Jennings finally eats dinner and then meets Mark in the playroom. Afterward, a kind nun named Sister Clair passes out stuffed animals to the children, and she gives Jennings a floppy-eared dog that Jennings calls Doggie. She explains that her mother is resting, that it is difficult for her to work and care for so many boys, especially with one sick in the hospital. Jennings cries and she hugs him. He wakes the next morning to find Doggie gone. Mark explains that the nuns collect them, that “they cage the animals at night,” that “it’s the rules” (25).

In the yard, Jennings sits by himself, and a talkative blonde girl his age introduces herself as Stacy Ann Perry. Jennings gets up to play box ball with Mark, but Mark abruptly rejects him. Jennings sits by himself again, wondering why. He realizes that the children here are not even playing but are simply waiting for their parents, or new foster parents, or the next click from Sister Frances. He hates his new home. At lunch, he studies the children further and sees their “drawn and blank” (29) faces. He realizes that all the children here are emotionless and isolated, and he is the same.

Mark explains that he does not want to play with Jennings because he does not want them to become friends, because that is against the rules. Later, Jennings rejects Stacy when she wants to talk to him in the playroom. He looks back and realizes he abandoned her just as Mark abandoned him, so he returns to talk with her. After a while she kisses him and runs into the girls’ room. Jennings goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth before bed, in shock.

In line for the stuffed animals, Butch, the lead bully, insults Mark in line. Jennings jumps on Butch and attacks him, but Butch throws him to the floor and punches him in the face. Sister Frances boxes both of them in the ear and sends them all to bed. In the dark, Mark goes to Jennings’ bed and thanks him. He says that he would like to try to be friends, and he gives Doggie to Jennings. The next few days, Butch leaves both Jennings and Mark alone. They even become friends, and Butch stops picking on the other children so much.

One day Jennings is brought to the office, where he sees a garishly unattractive couple. Sister Frances says that they are the Carpenters, and that he is going home with them because they like him. Jennings does not want to and says that they do not even know him. Jennings packs his things and runs back into the dayroom to say goodbye. Mark already knows what is happening, and they share a somber, brief goodbye. As he leaves with the Carpenters, Jennings begs Sister Frances to give him Doggie, but she refuses. Jennings feels such a deep pain he cannot even cry.

They drive up to the Carpenters’ house. Mrs. Carpenter scolds him for touching the car window and later snaps at him as he asks to help her make coffee. The Carpenters talk and mention to themselves that they only took Jennings for the money. She drags him to his new room, where the bed does not even have a pillow. She flicks off the light and shuts the door without a word. Jennings is left scared, having never slept in a bedroom alone before.

The next morning, Mrs. Carpenter explains that the house is off limits to Jennings. He is only allowed in his bedroom or at his own small table in the kitchen. She threatens to beat him if he breaks the rules. When she serves him a bowl of cold oatmeal and Jennings complains, she takes it away and leaves him without food. At night, after sitting at his table all day, Mrs. Carpenter makes hamburgers for herself and Mr. Carpenter, and she gives Jennings cold oatmeal again.

The next morning Jennings accidentally drops his bowl of cold oatmeal, and Mrs. Carpenter punches him in the head and beats him. Mr. Carpenter scolds his wife for “beating up all these kids” (46). Jennings tries to escape that night at the back door, but when he swings at the bolt with a hammer, he accidentally breaks the window. Mrs. Carpenter kicks him and beats him severely before her husband stops her. He tells her that Jennings goes back tomorrow.

Sister Frances scolds Jennings back at the home for being rejected by the Carpenters. In the dayroom, Jennings greets Mark and tells the other children about his experience with the Carpenters. Stacy greets him crying and kisses him, embarrassing Jennings. At lunch, Jennings is assigned a new number, 12, and he now shares the table with Mark.

After lunch, Jennings throws up his food and has the chance to explain to Sister Frances that the Carpenters did not feed him. She takes him to an office where he tells her and another nun everything that happened to him with the Carpenters. That night, the nuns give him Doggie. The next day, Sister Frances calls Stacy, just as she called Jennings when he was sent away with the Carpenters. Jennings feels sad, and Mark says that is why rule number one is not to make friends. Stacy comes back in and reveals that she is going home, and she says her goodbyes. Jennings feels terrible for a few days.

One morning, Mark shows Jennings his own beloved stuffed animal: a bear named Brownie. He got stuck under the pillow and was not collected. Jennings plans for Doggie’s escape, too. Sister Clair says goodbye to Jennings; she is being reassigned to a school. When Jennings asks her why they have to cage the animals at night, meaning the stuffed animals, Sister Clair says that it is unfortunate, but that they have to lock them up to care for them and keep them safe. That night he wakes to find Doggie under his pillow with a note from Sister Clair asking him to care for Doggie.

Four days before Christmas, as they make crafts, Jennings tells Mark and Butch the story of “A Christmas Carol,” by Charles Dickens. They have never heard of it. Other children come to listen to the story as well. Jennings, Mark, and Butch speak together about Christmas. In the home, they get no presents and there is no tree because the nuns do not like it. Mark has never gotten a present before, and Butch only got one a long time ago.

Jennings is called to the office, where his mother is waiting for him. She hugs and kisses him. Jennings is sent to pack his things, and he goes to say goodbye to Mark and Butch. Butch says goodbye abruptly and leaves. Jennings writes a goodbye note to Mark on an angel cutout and gives it to him as a Christmas present. Mark runs to Jennings, hugs him, and cries, pleading with Jennings to take him. Mark is separated from Jennings by a nun, and Jennings leaves with his mother.