Summary

Chapter 28 begins in spring; Alex has been in the Hutch for three weeks. Alex wakes to the sound of breaking glass, and looks out her window to see Mercy and her own mother. Alex leaves the Hutch, and when her mother sees Alex’s rough state, she cries. Mercy and Alex’s mother come into the Hutch to help clean up; they make Alex shower, buy her medication, bring her notes from classes, and even buy her new clothes. Alex is embarrassed but also grateful. When Alex tells her mother she probably will not be home for the summer, she only says, “This is where you belong. This is where you were meant to bloom” (401). As Alex sees her mother off, she asks if there was anything unusual about her father. Her mother only says that he was like an “arsenic eater” (402), because...