Summary

Laura notices her new next-door neighbor and her son. The young boy seems dissatisfied with life and constantly complains to his mother about the food she prepares for him, slamming doors and throwing things at the walls. The boy’s outbursts grow more severe as the section continues and she wonders how his mother must feel, resigned to living this way for the rest of her life. She invents a story in her mind about the woman not ever wanting to have been a mother. She thinks about her feelings on child rearing and how fruitless it seems. She enjoyed her youth studying outside of Mexico and exploring Paris and other European cities. She knows she would not have been able to do this if she had children. Her friend Alina felt similarly at the time and the two women bonded over their...