Summary

Boys: 1999 (continued)

Chapter 16 – Fern loves family, but sometimes wonders if she thinks too much about it. She wonders how she will turn out as a parent, and how her children will turn out. She thinks about one of her brothers, for example, a leftwing writer who lives in the middle of nowhere in Montana. She also thinks about Heather, who is athletic and the chief U.S. commerce and tourist representative for Tuscany, living there most of the year. Though Heather is only two years older, she often acts motherly toward Fern.

As Fern considers this, she shucks corn for dinner with Dennis, which he finds delightfully American. When dinner is finished being prepared, everyone sits down to eat. To Fern’s left are Dennis and Fenno, and to her right are Tony and Richard. As the conversation drifts, Fern is amazed...