Chapters 1, 2 and 3 Summary

Dolores remembers that she was four years old when her father gave in to the demands of Mrs. Masicotte to become her employee. He'd painted for her before that as a contractor. When he went to work for Mrs. Masicotte, he painted his truck peach, painted her name on the side, and began collecting rent on her properties on Saturdays. Dolores recalls that watching television became her focal point and that she seldom wanted to do anything else. She also remembers those times as wonderful, though her parents occasionally fought. Dolores says that she began to think of it in terms of television and believed that her parents were like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo of "I Love Lucy" —they loved each other but were just noisy.

When Dolores is in second grade, her mother was expecting a baby. Grandmother Holland...