Chapter 3 of 16 · 2'50"
Lester brings Sylvia and Jennie to a woman he barely knows and, over milk and ironing, they work out a price: "20 dollars a week and you don't have to worry." He says he couldn't do it, then leaves them anyway. The scene is the deal that hands the girls over.
Prosecutor Presses Lester Over Leaving Them
Lester Promises to Come Back
Lester Likens arrives at Gertrude Baniszewski's house looking for Sylvia and Jennie. He explains that the circuit he travels with ends in September and he has no one to leave them with. Gertrude suggests he leave the girls with her, notes she already has six children, and asks for twenty dollars a week. Lester says he couldn't do that, says he'll ask his wife, and then pays and says goodbye.
The scene reads as a favor and plays as a transaction. Gertrude opens with her own household chaos — no milk, no credit, ironing to deliver — which makes the offer sound practical rather than eager. "I got six kids, two more wont make a difference" is the pitch: the girls are nearly costless, so taking them isn't a burden. Then she puts a number on it. The trial later reframes the same moment: "But, you were willing to leave your children, with a complete stranger?" What Lester calls trust, the prosecutor calls neglect. His defense is that Gertrude offered to treat them like her own, and he promises to come back. He does what he has to, and the girls stay.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“I got six kids, two more wont make a difference.”
She makes taking in two children sound effortless, which is exactly what wears a worried parent down.
Informal
“20 dollars a week and you don't have to worry.”
A price and a promise in one breath, so the deal sounds like kindness rather than a transaction.
Neutral
“But, you were willing to leave your children, with a complete stranger?”
The question quietly accuses: the word willing turns a father's trust into a failure to protect.
Formal
“And I promise, I will be back, and get you girls then.”
A simple promise of return lands hard, because the girls and we both know how such promises fail.
Neutral
Up next · 04take them inThe scene: Sylvia and Jennie Move InHe travels with a carnival circuit that ends in September, and he has no family in Indianapolis to leave them with. Gertrude offers to take them for twenty dollars a week.
No. At trial he confirms he had never met her before, which is exactly what the prosecutor presses him on.
She already has six children in the house. She uses that to make taking in two more girls sound like a small, practical thing.
He promises to return and get the girls when the circuit ends in September. Whether he does becomes the turn the film builds toward.
