Pages 31 - 45 Summary

Since Sister has been institutionalized, everything at home has changed. Mother has become depressed, rarely leaving her bedroom or turning off the television. Cookie looks through old photographs of the way things used to be and almost doesn't recognize her family anymore. She remembers the day she fell asleep under her bed when she was young, and the entire family thought she had gone missing. Sister called sweetly to Cookie, coaxing her out from under the bed: "When I was lost, you were the one who found me, now you're the one who's lost, and I can't find you anywhere" (p. 33-34).

Sister continues to call home regularly, often speaking nonsense into the phone. Even though it breaks Cookie's heart to hear her sister's babbling, Cookie doesn't feel like she can hang up. It's her responsibility to listen. She tries to...