Chapter 12 Summary

Lipsha Morrissey has the healing touch. He can't explain how it works, but if he rests his fingers on the source of someone's bodily pain, they will come away feeling better. Lipsha's touch works on his Grandma Marie's varicose veins, but it does nothing to help his Grandpa Nector. Marie wants Nector to keep away from their neighbor in the senior citizen apartments, Lulu Lamartine, but there's nothing in Lipsha's special powers to stop him. On any given day, Nector can be found outside Lulu's window digging up the dandelions in the courtyard.

The pain of jealousy is evident in Marie. Lipsha, young as he is, can see how his grandmother yearns for her husband. Nector's mind is almost entirely wasted away into dementia, but that is not what Marie mourns. She laments the fact that Nector, even in his bewildered state, still...