Question: Why do we never see Sarah or Henry in school?
Question: When Mark leaves from the city with his dad... how come the family all beat him to Midland? You see them meet him at the station.
Answer: The train could have multiple stops between their home in Chicago and their old home in Midland. Lots of trains stop at many different towns and cities to let people on and off so this train could have made stops as well.
Question: Why was Tom bringing the football team to his house?
Answer: Because he needed a way to coach the team while also watching his kids.
Answer: Film makers have to make choices about what can be shown in a movie. They are limited by the running time of the film, what best serves the overall continuity of the plot, and also the logistics of setting up and filming many different scenes. Sometimes scenes are filmed, but later are cut out entirely. If showing Sarah or Henry in school does not directly serve the storyline, then there is no reason to have it in the film.
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