Summary

The narrator Alma's namesake Aunt Alma tells the story of the narrator's birth. The narrator's Mama was asleep in her brother's car when they were in an accident. Mama bounced off the window and when she woke up, the narrator had been born and was already named. Her aunt says that Mama and the narrator's lives meant that "there's something your mama's meant to do" (33). Later, Mama does not echo her sister's sentiment; she does not believe in God's interest in her. She tells Alma that her unconsciousness was why she had the same name as her aunt. Mama still lives with Alma's stepfather, even though she said she would leave him when her daughters left the house. Mama's life is still predictable.

Alma remembers how when she was a girl she liked to take care of her mother by rubbing lotion into her...