Summary

Dorothy wakes up to a text from her friend Gaby, who also sends pictures of her young son, Sherman – one laughing, one crying. As Dorothy contemplates what it means that Gaby prioritized taking photos of her son rather than engaging with his feelings, she also contemplates how she never told Gaby she was pregnant. She recalls a conversation in which the over-sensitive Gaby reacted badly to a couple of casual remarks about the future from Dorothy, remarks that for Gaby, were a trigger for sad musings about her unfulfilled past. The recollection ends with Gaby telling Dorothy she should have a baby, and commenting on how good it felt to be needed. Meanwhile, the conversation glancingly references an incident from her past that Dorothy considers both important and disappointing – the successful publication of her paper on Daphne Du Maurier’s...