Summary

Chapter 1. In first-person narration, Queenie describes becoming increasingly nervous during a visit to her gynecologist, particularly when her doctor calls for a second opinion, then a specialist. Her attempts to reach her boyfriend Tom on her cell phone fail, while the conversation of her religious aunt Maggie, who has accompanied her, makes her increasingly agitated. Eventually, Queenie finds out that in spite of having been using a birth control device, she has had a miscarriage.

Still in shock, Queenie returns home and continues packing her belongings, narration revealing that she and Tom (who is white) are breaking up. Throughout this section of the chapter, there are flashbacks to earlier conversations with Tom – one about the possibility of their having children; one on the day they moved in together (Tom’s mother having bought them coffee mugs painted with a Q and a...