Summary

Rosie and K connect based on their mutual motherhood, and in a discussion about children, the fact that K is transgender comes to light. K has noticed that Claude is the same way. She explains that this is “no big deal” in Thailand. According to the Buddhist way of seeing gender, one’s sex does not matter because the self shifts constantly from body to body, identity to identity. K does not take hormones and has male genitalia, but “no one care what is under my pants” (289). Rosie tells her that everyone cares what is under Claude’s pants at home and there is “no middle way” (290). K reassures her that everyone is on a journey from “ignorance to enlightenment,” just like the Buddha (290).

The following chapter, “The Color of Monday,” reverts to Claude’s perspective. Claude and Rosie...