Summary

Over the course of the next few years, Marta and Sofia slowly began rekindling their friendship, though Marta was often the "reluctant third wheel to the now teenaged Sofia and Joey" (181). The communal garden also became a huge success, as the garden's output "tripled...in those two years and now there was more than enough for both families" (182). Joey began eating at the Paradissis' house for dinner, which Noah, the "self-declared friend of the workingman" (182) had neglected to ever offer. One day after fishing, Marta caught Sofia and Joey having sex near the marshes. At that age, Marta was unable to "untangle sex from love" (185), and thought that Sofia's abundance of passion meant that she had to "pla[y] it out on Joey" (185), the same way she would generously tend to "feral cats" (185). Soon after, Marta broke out in a severe case of...