Pages 3 - 15 Summary

At the opening of the collecion, the narrator, a young girl called "Cookie," recalls what life was like before her sister fell ill: her entire family climbed into a giant hammock together, swaying as one. For Cookie, Sister's transition from mentally healthy to unwell happened seemingly overnight: one morning she was happy and well behaved, the next, "a wild-eyed Jewish girl wearing only a nightgown" (p. 4). Yet it wasn't just Sister who changed, when Sister "went crazy," her father and mother changed too. Looking around her, Cookie feels as if she's suddenly surrounded by strangers.

Sister's behavior swings wildly, from going on wild and unpredictable shopping sprees to zoning out, engrossed with the television. When her parents decide that it's time to commit her, Sister screams that she hates them, her voice bounding off the hospital walls. Cookie fights the urge...