Summary

The first part of this section of the book is titled “1 Hour,” and returns to the second-person, present-tense narration describing the last day of Anson Packer. The narration begins with a reference to how deep Packer’s dread is becoming, and how glad he is to know that Blue has arrived to serve as a witness to the execution – even though, he is told, that she does not want to see him before the execution. Packer recalls her as sixteen, even though “seven years have passed since that Blue House summer” (235), and also recalls how comfortable and happy he felt there, realizing that he had “not known what [he] was capable of becoming” (236). He also recalls his departure from The Blue House on a Sunday morning after being told by Rachel that he had to go, unaware of what she had learned but...