The following version of this story was used to create this study guide: Moore, Lorrie. “People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk.” Birds of America. New York: Vintage Books, 2010. Pages 212 – 250.

The story’s protagonist is a woman referred to only as ‘the Mother.’ She is a wife, a mother of one child, and a professional fiction writer. The story opens as she is changing the diaper of her son, who is about one year old, and who is referred to only as ‘the Baby.’ The Mother finds a blood clot in the Baby’s fecal matter, so she brings him to the hospital. There, an ultrasound scan reveals that there is a tumor on the Baby’s kidney. Required treatment involves surgery and chemotherapy. The Mother calls her husband (referred to throughout the story only as ‘the Husband’) to tell him the news. The Husband comes home from work. He and the Mother are very distraught. The Husband encourages the Mother to take notes so that she can write and sell a story to help cover the medical costs. However, the mother says that the ordeal is too painful and chaotic to render as a satisfying or interesting narrative.

The Mother and the Husband take the Baby back to the hospital to begin preparation for surgery. The surgery is scheduled for the next day. The Mother meets other parents whose children are being treated for cancer. The parents tell stories of their own tribulations in relation to their children’s illnesses and treatment. The Baby is eventually brought into the operating room for surgery. During the procedure, the Mother and the Husband must wait in the waiting room. They are both very stressed, and time seems to pass very slowly. Eventually, the operation is successfully completed, and the parents go to see the Baby in his recovery room. The Mother is distraught at the sight of the tubes attached to the Baby and the restraints on the Baby’s arms.

That night, the parents sleep on a cot in the Baby’s hospital room. The Mother awakes in the night and checks on the Baby. The Mother is distraught to notice some blood in a suction tube that is attached to the Baby. She calls for a doctor and vigorously points out the blood. The young attending physician seems unsure of himself. He turns down the power on the suction and gives the Baby some antacids. The Baby recovers from surgery over the weekend. The oncologist says that there is a chance that more cancer may emerge at some point in the future, but that chemotherapy is not necessary at this point in time. They schedule an ultrasound appointment for six weeks in the future. The Mother and the Husband, feeling somewhat relieved, leave the hospital with their son.