Summary

In the story “Tess,” Tess was a mentally and physically handicapped baby girl born to a single waitress. At age two Tess still required round the clock hospital care in order to keep her alive. She would never be able to have any sort of life beyond her crib or padded chair in the hospital. The staff at the hospital had varied opinions of Tess. To the accounting department she was a burden because of the cost of her care. The hospital counsel was working on suing the state in order to get some reimbursement for the money spent on Tess’ care. The nurses who took care of Tess loved her because of her angelic beauty. One resident imagined the damage in Tess’ brain being able to reverse itself and allow the child to be whole.

A cleaning man from Asia wondered why the...