Summary

Chapter 17 returns to Arleen, who found a new apartment owned by a landlord named Carol. Carol was extremely skeptical of Arleen’s history of evictions and low income, but allowed her to rent the apartment if she had her rent automatically deducted from her welfare check and sent to directly to Carol. Because the apartment would not be open until the beginning of the next month, Arleen put her belongings in a storage center and moved to a homeless shelter with her sons. In the meantime, however, Carol found another, likely more reliable tenant, forcing the family to stay in the shelter. As they collected the remainder of their belongings from the shared apartment, Crystal became extremely angry at Jori. The author notes that Crystal’s extensive mental health diagnoses were only worsened by the stress that both she and Arleen faced.

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