Mrs. Callas

Mrs. Callas is the mother of Phillip and six-year-old Dean Callas. Her urgent telephone call to Whit's End begins a frightening search after Dean fails to arrive home. Phillip had sent his little brother walking alone after becoming embarrassed and angry with him, but Mrs. Callas knows only that Dean is missing. Her report turns a careless decision into a townwide emergency, bringing police and other searchers into the streets. It also forces Phillip to confront the terrible wish he had made for Dean to disappear. Mrs. Callas's brief call marks the moment when ordinary family frustration becomes a crisis and when Phillip begins to understand his responsibility toward his younger brother.