Book I Chapters 11 and 12 Summary

That night, Claire takes a walk by herself again. She runs into one of the boatmen and they start talking. When the boatman tells Claire he learned to swim when his Dad threw him in the pond, Claire doesn't understand what he's talking about. In their community, the children learn to swim at five and she doesn't know what a Dad is because the children are assigned to parental units.

The boatman invites Claire to tour the boat. She says she cannot because she doesn't think it's allowed. When the boatman mentions the sea, Claire continues to ponder what this is.

Three months later, Claire runs into the nurturer again. He has the baby in a carrier seat on the back of his bicycle. The baby now has two teeth. Claire asks if he can use the...