Summary

Chapters 41 to 45 continue third person narration, and Chapter 41 begins with Neni riding a bus with a gift bag in her lap. She overhears two men talk about President Obama’s inauguration excitedly, in disbelief that a black man was elected president. Neni exits the bus and walks to the Edwards’s apartment building. The doorman tells her to take the service entrance, and Anna lets her into the apartment where Cindy is in the living room. Neni tells her she wants to give Cindy a gift and refuses to show it to Anna. Anna had called Neni after Jende was fired, fearful that she would lose her position next since Cindy’s health was becoming worse, and in the apartment Neni assures her she will not be fired. She goes into the living room and gives Cindy a dress that her mother had...