Summary

Chapter 5 begins the following day with Miranda certain that Mark’s efforts have worsened her pain. In her drugged torpor she calls her ex-husband Paul to cry and complain, but he reminds Miranda how he has moved on in his life with a new girlfriend, implies he is not alone, and seems perturbed that she is still talking about the same old topic. Later, Ellie comes to see her Miranda in her office to warn Miranda that the students are organizing a formal complaint against her, but Ellie insists she is not part of it. On her way out, Ellie gives Miranda a baggie of homemade therapeutic herbal bath salts that she thinks might help, which Miranda accepts without intending to use. She continues to bumble her way through her afternoon classes, ignoring the dean’s repeated calls to her office and cellphone...