Summary

The chapter intro consists of the notes A.J. has written about "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," a short story written by J.D. Salinger. However, his notes are more about how Maya should have won the short story contest than they are about Salinger's novel.

Most of the chapter is Maya's short story, "A Trip to the Beach." It is Maya's version of what she knows of her mother. In Maya's version, a young, single mom named Mary has a two-year-old daughter but has no support system. She has a babysitter, but paying the babysitter takes almost all of the money out of Mary's checking account. Mary is in school, but has fallen behind in her classes and no longer receives the high grades she used to. She has also stopped swimming on the swim team...