The Reformatory: A Novel

Warden Haddock wants to assign Robbie as a spotter. Boone recognized Robbie’s ability to perceive haints, especially after his vivid experience of the boys who died in the fire. The warden wants them to work together to reduce the number of haints at the Reformatory because he believes that the haints are ruining the school’s reputation. The warden offers to look past Robbie’s association with his father and shows Robbie an early release form that he will sign if Robbie agrees to spot for Boone. After Haddock offers extra protection for Robbie’s friends, Robbie informs him about the haint with the knife in his back. Haddock refutes that any such murder ever occurred and cautions Robbie against feeling sorry for the haints.

Haddock shows Robbie a jar of all the haints he’s collected, all of whom are trapped in ash. He tasks Robbie with trapping a dangerous haint named Kendall Sweeting, who died in the 1920 fire. When Robbie sees the photo of the boy, he recognizes Blue.

Robbie reckons with the knowledge that Blue is a haint. Soon after, Boone urges Robbie to help him track the haint in the kitchen. When Robbie leads him to the spot where he saw the haint, Boone sprinkles what he calls “goofer dust” on the floor. Almost immediately, the haint is trapped by the dust, forming a small pile of ash. Boone collects the haint’s ash and promises to have Robbie permanently assigned to haint catching. All the other boys, except for Redbone, are impressed.

That night, Blue admonishes Robbie for trapping the haint, whose name was Clint Newsome. Blue tries to intimidate Robbie by calling him a “thumper” on account of his beating heart. Robbie feels guilty when Blue says that he deserves to go to hell. Blue threatens to have Boone trap the ghost of Robbie’s mother if he continues to catch other haints.

The only way that Robbie can redeem himself is to get Haddock’s haint jar and either bury and pray over the ashes or release them into a creek. Blue wants revenge against Haddock for starting the fire and killing so many others throughout his life. He indicates that Haddock has proof of his rapes and murders, which Robbie can expose. Robbie must play along with Boone and Haddock and catch a haint sanctioned by Blue to maintain their trust. When Robbie has the opportunity to steal the evidence against Haddock, Blue will help Robbie escape.

Gloria’s failure to affect Robbie’s sentence makes her feel worse than when she lied to her dying mother about staying in school. Hearing a commotion in the living room, she finds Uncle June, Miz Lottie, and several neighbors watching a truck parked at the corner. They worry that the truck is carrying Ku Klux Klan members. Uncle June tells Gloria to bring Miz Lottie to her room and arm themselves. Gloria has a premonition of a fire.

Miz Lottie expresses concern over Gloria’s missing cousin, Waymon. Outside, someone calls out for Robert Stephens. Miz Lottie smells kerosene and warns Gloria not to die by burning. Gloria reassures her with her premonition, which showed a different building on fire. Waymon appears at the window, asking to be let in. When he enters, smelling of smoke, Gloria realizes that the Klan has burned down her family cabin.

The next morning, the people on Lower Spruce arm themselves to fight the Klan, even though the Klan members are too scared to engage them. Waymon tells Gloria how he had gone to her family cabin to make sure she was all right. He managed to recover the wedding photo of Gloria’s parents before it was destroyed. Red McCormack stopped the Klan members from letting the fire spread further.

Sheriff Posey arrives, trying to disperse the Lower Spruce residents from their porches. He promises to disperse the Klan members as well if they can bring Robert Stephens to justice. When no one offers clues to Robert’s whereabouts, the sheriff urges them to leave Gracetown to maintain the peace. He threatens to have the Lower Spruce residents arrested if they don’t go to work.

After the sheriff leaves, Gloria asks Uncle June for help in breaking Robbie out of the Reformatory.

Gloria goes to the Powell residence to call the Reformatory and schedule her for visiting day. The woman on the other end tells her that she needs to come in person the following Monday to register. Gloria is not satisfied with this answer and decides to go to the Reformatory instead. Miss Anne has met Loehmann in a social setting and offers to talk to him. She calls him immediately and explains Robbie’s case.

Loehmann promises to help Gloria get on the visitors list for the following day, but he regrets making that promise through Anne. She wants to visit Robbie as well, but Loehmann reminds her that the segregated visitation bars her from entry. Anne expresses her disappointment in the country. Loehmann promises to reach out to the warden’s secretary.

Loehmann calls Doris but is surprised to hear Warden Haddock answer the phone. He makes the request on behalf of the state, so Haddock agrees to accommodate Gloria.

Sheriff Posey comes to the Powell residence looking for Gloria, who eavesdrops on them just out of the sheriff’s view. Miss Anne tells him that Gloria has stopped working for them ever since Robbie was incarcerated. She refuses to provide further details and threatens to call him out in the newspaper. Before the sheriff leaves, he reminds Anne about her father, who was believed to have been killed by the Klan after he supported a petition to ban lynching in Gracetown. Anne is shaken by the sheriff’s veiled threat.

Many Reformatory boys come to Robbie to tell him where the haints are. When Boone orders Robbie to track the haints from the 1920 fire, Robbie asks for a day to stall.

During band practice, Redbone seemingly forgives Robbie after Blue vouches for him. Robbie confronts Redbone about Blue being a haint, but Redbone admits that Blue is the only haint he sees. They talk about Robbie working with the warden and the possibility of stealing the photographs that Blue told them about. Redbone warns that doing it could get Robbie killed, but he understands that Blue threatened Robbie’s mother if he fails to go through with stealing them.

Warden Haddock stands on Boot Hill to inspect the Reformatory from afar. He reflects on the fire he started, which continues to threaten his career after many years. He had been drunk and was angry at the boys who died that day for their many attempts to escape. His only regret was the death of his friend Robicheaux, who attempted to break into the room to save the boys. Now Haddock fears Kendall Sweeting, the only boy to have known about his secret photographs. As a haint, Sweeting often attempts to expose the photos by removing them from his drawer.

A tree branch nearly falls on Haddock, but he evades it. He suspects that Sweeting dropped it. He threatens the haints with Robbie’s supernatural gift. Boone comes up to the hill to show Haddock the haint dust that he and Robbie have collected. Haddock is irritated that Boone granted Robbie a day’s rest. He suspects that Robbie is protecting a haint, so he orders Boone to punish Redbone if Robbie fails to cooperate. Haddock is compelled to confess his secrets to Robbie, having already quietly revealed to him that he killed his own sister. Though he had promised to release Robbie, Haddock secretly plots to kill him.

Robbie waits for Blue to tell him which haint to catch, but he never appears. That Sunday, Blue approaches Robbie on the way to church and tells him to look for a haint named Robicheaux.

At church, Warden Haddock delivers the sermon. Robbie is distracted by the sight of a giant groundskeeper whose uniform is smoking. Once he confirms that the haint is Robicheaux, Robbie calls Boone’s attention. Robicheaux is immediately ensnared by Boone’s trap. The congregation, which includes Mrs. Hamilton, witnesses Robicheaux’s imprisonment in ash. As the service ends, the lector announces Robbie as one of the boys receiving visitors that day.

Gloria is initially thrilled to see Robbie but notices something wrong when Miz Lottie touches his back. Robbie wolfs down the food they’ve brought and then talks about the work he’s done in the kitchen and on the cornfield. Finally, he admits to having been beaten along with many other boys. Gloria inspects the scars on his back.

Gloria tells Robbie about her progress in finding a lawyer. She then gives him a jar of petroleum jelly and opens the Bible to a passage from the Book of John about the truth setting one free. She shows that she has hidden a map inside the Bible. Miz Lottie sings the spiritual “Wade in the Water” to signal that he should run away.

Gloria communicates that Robbie must escape through a weak part of the fence near the Funhouse and then cut through the cornfield into the woods and the creek. She instructs him to cover himself in petroleum jelly and leave the following weekend around suppertime. As the guard calls the time, Robbie tries to bargain for an earlier escape date, citing the haints that put him in harm’s way. Gloria agrees to come for him on Friday.

Robbie’s excitement at the prospect of leaving the Reformatory is bolstered by his increasing popularity among the boys. By Tuesday, Robbie worries over the pressure that Blue and Haddock will place on him to advance their respective agendas.

Boone sends Redbone and Robbie to track haints around the baseball bleachers. Robbie confides in Redbone that he is planning to escape on Friday and walks through every step of the plan from the moment he leaves at supper. They come up with a code for talking about Robbie’s escape plan, referring to it as “Christmas.” Redbone anticipates that Blue will not let him leave until he exposes Haddock. He also worries that Haddock will discover Robbie’s plan before Friday. He warns that fooling Boone with false haint reports may endanger his plans. Redbone eventually deduces that Haddock will make an example of him if Robbie goes missing.

Redbone tells Robbie that he should ask his mother’s ghost to leave so that she can escape Blue. They both agree that in the worst-case scenario, they will give up Blue to Boone. When Robbie is ready to call Blue, he must summon him using his real name.

That evening, as Redbone and Robbie are leaving the showers, Boone brings them over to the horse stables to ask them about the results of their search. Robbie makes up a story about the devil being in the church, requiring him to rest for three more days. Boone is unsatisfied, so he shows them that he has imprisoned someone else in an underground cell called the Box—Cleo. Boone threatens to throw Redbone inside with him if they don’t provide any more useful information. Cleo threatens to kill both of them, so Robbie promises to get him released.

In the shower, Robbie asks his mother’s spirit to leave and wait for him outside the Reformatory. When the pipes turn silent, he calls for Kendall, who takes some time to arrive. Blue declines to name any more haints for Robbie and Boone. He promises to give Robbie the key to Haddock’s drawer before his escape. Now that Blue knows his plan, Robbie is forced to accept his request. He urges Blue to help him, too, arguing that without Robbie or Redbone, the only person left to call on Blue would be Haddock. Blue relents, promising to distract Haddock long enough for Robbie to sneak into the office and leave the prison.

Robbie asks to trap one more haint just to convince Haddock and Boone that he can still be trusted. Blue finally points to a haint near the old well, a boy named Henry “Hank” Jackson, who was shot by Haddock while trying to escape. Robbie learns that the goofer dust is grave dust, calling the haints to rest.

Redbone enters the bathroom. Robbie pretends that he isn’t talking to Blue. Redbone reminds him to ask Blue for a haint.

After visiting Robbie, Gloria spends the next few nights hiding from the police. Miz Lottie distracts her by helping her pack her belongings for Chicago. Waymon conducts reconnaissance on the prison fence and recaps his plan to drive to the cornfield with his friend Clive so that he can cut the fence. Gloria is worried about their chances of success when a stranger rings the doorbell.

Uncle June opens the door to a woman who introduces herself as the band director at the Reformatory. They let in Mrs. Hamilton, who assures them that Robbie is all right. She shares that she is looking out for Robbie at every turn, ensuring that he doesn’t fall into harm’s way again. She also shares the rumor that Robbie has been enlisted to hunt ghosts at the prison. The Lower Spruce residents are incredulous, except for Miz Lottie. They acknowledge, however, that something is wrong with the Reformatory that defies ordinary logic. Aware of the people who are coming after Gloria, Mrs. Hamilton offers to let Gloria hide in her spare room.

Gloria is impressed by Mrs. Hamilton’s neighborhood, Sunny Hill. Mrs. Hamilton’s brother, dorm master Percy Crutcher, arrives and complains about Robbie and Boone catching haints. He then talks about how Robert’s bad influence landed Robbie in the Funhouse. After Crutcher leaves, Mrs. Hamilton comes to Gloria’s room to check on her. Gloria suggests having Robbie run away, but Mrs. Hamilton is firmly opposed to the idea. She reassures Gloria that the system will eventually set Robbie free, but Gloria finds it hard to trust that it will.