Summary

In Chapter 5, Eilish watches a group of men graffitiing her car. She tells the children to stay quiet. In the morning, she checks on the children and studies the car’s damage. She feels “shame and pain and grief” (142). She tells the children they will be okay.

Eilish discovers that Bailey is wetting the bed. She cleans his room, finding lighters in his drawer. She gets upset when he tells her that the worm “is gaining in power” (147). The worm, he explains, is the state.

Eilish is distracted at work. She cannot reach Mark. Paul calls her into a meeting and fires her.

Eilish does not recognize herself in the mirror. She searches in vain for a comforting memory. She digs her mother’s old things. Molly enters, informing Eilish that Mark messaged saying “he was doing this for Dad” (151). Eilish dons her...