Summary

Chapter 4

It is now three days after her initial meeting with Maurice (a Thursday). Laura goes out to find the boy. She finds him easily enough – he is in the same spot as she found him on Monday. He smiles when he sees her, and agrees to go to McDonald's again. This time, she notices, he eats a lot more slowly.

Readers don't learn anything of what happens during this meal, except that at the end, Laura makes plans with Maurice to meet on the next Monday. Instead, there is a flashback and the reader is offered more of an insight into Maurice’s childhood.

(Flashback). Maurice lived at the welfare hotel with his mother, two sisters, and grandmother Rose, who is described this way: “Grandma Rose was 4-foot-11 and hard as a two by four.” She carried a straight razor named Betsy...