Summary

In Chapter 4, the author describes that she was able to write Duchess’ quips, which are scattered throughout the narrative, without even really thinking about them while she was trying to solve real-world problems. Often, when the author read what Duchess had written she was struck by the idea that Duchess was a better person than she. She believed that Duchess was the sort of person the author’s father wanted the author to be. During his life, he had challenged her to be more compassionate and love people more completely.

The author returns her focus to her own life as she describes how she decided to have all possible tests run while she was pregnant to find out if there was any sort of disease or defect the baby might have. Her aunt suspected it was because the author was considering abortion if...