Summary

In Chapter 13, the narrator explains her process for cleaning a house. Part of this is reducing clutter. She states that “A heaped towel in low light...resembles a dead animal” (46).

In Chapter 14, the narrator reads a newspaper headline detailing a crude oil explosion near her Minneapolis neighborhood, Camden. Oil travels by train through the neighborhood and vibrations from the train have caused a crack in the basement floor of her house. She once saw a large spider exit this crack. After that, she saw another spider in the kitchen sink, and then another near the basement freezer. She also notes that the sugar maple tree outside the house is dying.

In Chapter 15, the narrator recalls a time when Gam Gam was egg bound and she and Percy had to place her in a sink of warm water to get her to release the...