Summary

After five years of marriage, Jack reflected on how he and Olive had grown together. In their first months they had slept holding each other; as Jack put it, they “held on for dear life!” and Jack found that he could be himself with her (148). He understood after they were married how anxious Olive was as a person but over time, “she had grown increasingly less anxious; quietly, this made Jack feel wonderful,” (149).

One day, Jack found Olive crying because she couldn’t cut her own toenails anymore. He took her to get the first pedicure of her life, a simple act that brought her extreme joy. A few days later, as they drove to Shirley Falls together, she again thanked him for it. Arriving in Shirley falls, the two noticed how many Somali immigrants had moved there recently, and Olive remembered her mother...