Summary

In Chapter 4, Ma-mee wakes early, as usual. She thinks back on the past, including that she and her husband Lucien had scrimped to buy the materials to build this house. She had chosen to have her bedroom on the east, putting her in position to see the rising sun. She thinks about how things have changed – her struggles with diabetes, the hard drugs that “steal the sense from people, and her inability to sleep in. At night, with rosary beads in hand, she imagines death is preparing to come for her. She rises early, moving by memory through the house but using her feet to reassure herself of the “absolutes” of the house. Christophe is the first to rise. Ma-mee instructs him to take a shower and help her peel the shrimp Paul brought. She has always loved music, especially artists like Al...