Summary

The desire to have a child hit Joan suddenly and strongly in her mid-twenties. She writes, "until then pregnancy had been only a fear, and accident to be avoided at any cost" (80). Her desire to have a child was highlighted when she had a pregnancy scare and got her period a few days later. Her sense of regret at not having baby reinforced her desire to become a mother.

Joan reflects on some of her most clear memories from Quintana's childhood. She remembers her daughter collecting objects, which she called "sundries" and organizing them into designated sections of an empty box. She also remembers Quintana thinking she had cancer in nursery school after finding chicken pox on her head. These memories all show Quintana "trying to handle adult life, trying to be a convincing grown-up person at an age when she was still...