Opening
These chapters trace the origin of Sam’s “extraordinary” life: a baby’s first brush with prejudice, a mother’s ferocious faith, and a family’s confrontation with an institution that won’t accept difference. The battle lines form between genuine compassion and public image, setting the stage for a fight to belong and to be seen—an arc rooted in Overcoming Otherness and Prejudice and Faith and Doubt.
What Happens
Chapter 6: A Fine Lad Indeed
Three days after his birth, Samuel 'Sam' Hill makes his first visit to Our Lady of Mercy. His mother, Madeline Hill, carries him to the statue of the Blessed Mother, beginning a ritual that centers his life in the church. From the pew behind them, a boy blurts, “What’s wrong with that baby’s eyes?”—Sam’s first taste of public scrutiny.
Madeline does not flinch. She turns, lets the boy look, and answers, “There’s nothing wrong with his eyes. God made them that color. They’re extraordinary.” After Mass, she presents Sam to Father Brogan, who swallows his surprise and pronounces Sam “a fine lad indeed.” The scene plants the novel’s central conflict: Sam’s difference provokes judgment, and Madeline counters by reframing it as gift, dignity, and purpose.
Chapter 7: Walk for Mary
At thirteen months, while his father Maxwell Hill films, Madeline dangles her rosary and repeats, “Walk for Mary.” Sam looks past the camera to the crucifix and says his first clear word: “Mary.” Madeline reads it as confirmation that God has a plan for her son.
She doubles down on his religious formation. By five, Sam learns the rosary and standard prayers. Madeline also offers a metaphor he never forgets: prayer as a “piggy bank.” Every prayer is a coin to save now and withdraw later when trouble comes—a concrete strategy for weathering fear and doubt.
Chapter 8: The Rejection Letter
When Sam turns six, Madeline waits for his acceptance into OLM’s first grade. The letter arrives: rejection due to “lack of space.” That night, Maxwell gently suggests public school might be easier—less attention on their son’s eyes.
Madeline responds with icy clarity. She pours hot cream into Maxwell’s lap, silently rejecting compromise. The child whose first word was “Mary” will have a Catholic education. Her line in the sand establishes a theme of Parental Love and Sacrifice: she risks comfort, reputation, and conflict for what she believes is Sam’s right.
Chapter 9: Righteousness
On Monday, Madeline dresses Sam in the OLM uniform she already bought and stops at church first. She tells him to make a withdrawal from his prayer bank. What to ask for? “Righteousness.” Then she marches him to the principal, Sister Beatrice, and demands a face-to-face explanation.
At first, Sister Beatrice hides behind “best interests,” admitting she has never met Sam. Pressed, she reveals the real concern: students already call him “Sam Hell” and “the devil boy,” and she fears a “disruption.” For Sam, the nicknames land like a blow. Madeline counters that a Catholic school should practice compassion, not exclusion. When the principal refuses, Madeline ends with a measured threat—“I will pray for you, Sister”—and warns the office staff to “prepare yourselves.”
Chapter 10: To See a College Friend
Madeline does not drive home. She heads to a high-rise TV station and meets her polished college friend, Dan. While they talk, an assistant, Emily, takes Sam to the lunchroom. One by one, employees wander in “on break,” stealing glances at the boy with red eyes. Sam feels himself become a spectacle.
Dan returns in a sports coat, ready to go on air. He hugs Madeline and says, “We’ll take care of it.” If the church will not act with righteousness, Madeline will make the story public. The private denial becomes a community’s problem to solve.
Character Development
Madeline’s faith turns tactical, while Sam learns that love and ridicule can arrive in the same room. Authority figures reveal themselves—some humane, some fearful.
- Madeline Hill: Converts faith into action—reframes difference as divine, confronts power directly, and leverages media when the institution stonewalls.
- Samuel “Sam” Hill: Absorbs his first open rejection and the cruel nicknames; begins storing resilience through ritual, prayer, and his mother’s vocabulary of dignity.
- Sister Beatrice: Embodies institutional caution shaped by optics; prioritizes perceived order over pastoral care.
- Maxwell Hill: Pragmatic, conflict-averse; wants protection through avoidance, foiling Madeline’s assertive protection through engagement.
Themes & Symbols
These chapters root the story in a clash between authentic mercy and image-conscious gatekeeping. The church setting sharpens the irony: the institution that preaches welcome denies a child based on appearance. Madeline insists that real faith means standing beside the vulnerable, not hiding them. The media becomes a secular instrument of justice when religious authority fails to live its values.
Parental devotion anchors Sam’s identity. Madeline’s “prayer piggy bank” turns belief into a usable resource, teaching agency within dependence. The OLM uniform, bought before admission, is a wager on belonging—faith made visible, daring the institution to live up to its name.
- The Prayer Piggy Bank: Faith rendered practical; stockpiled hope for future trials.
- The OLM Uniform: Symbol of belonging claimed in advance; a garment that insists Sam already fits.
Key Quotes
“There’s nothing wrong with his eyes. God made them that color. They’re extraordinary.”
Madeline rewrites the narrative in real time, transforming stigma into sanctity. Her language becomes Sam’s shield and the book’s ethic of counter-speech.
“Mary.”
As a first word, it fuses family, faith, and destiny. Madeline hears vocation; Sam learns that words can open doors others try to close.
“Righteousness.”
Madeline’s whispered instruction reframes the fight: not victory or vengeance, but moral rightness. It turns prayer from comfort into compass.
“Sam Hell” and “the devil boy.”
The nicknames reduce a child to a spectacle and foreshadow the long shadow of bullying. Naming becomes wounding—and a lesson in how language polices difference.
“I will pray for you, Sister.”
A benediction as rebuke. Madeline wields the institution’s own vocabulary to expose its failure of compassion.
“We’ll take care of it.”
Dan’s promise marks the pivot from private grievance to public accountability. When pastoral power falters, civic power enters.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
This sequence establishes the novel’s central stakes: Will Sam be defined by the color of his eyes or by the character of those who love him? Madeline’s unyielding advocacy collides with an institution protecting its comfort over a child’s dignity, inaugurating Sam’s lifelong negotiation with prejudice.
By turning to the media, Madeline escalates a parochial decision into a community test of values, setting up the first major battle of Sam’s early life. The groundwork is laid for how faith, family, and public pressure intersect to challenge—and sometimes change—what powerful people prefer to keep hidden.