Summary

The chapter begins with the narrator explaining that Patty’s parents always encouraged her to be involved in the arts, but while she did not, her siblings did. The narrator explains that Patty and Walter married in a courthouse about three weeks after they graduated college (this relieved Patty’s parents, as it meant she was not a lesbian). Before this happened, Patty and Walter had dinner with Patty’s family, however it went quite badly as Abigail, Patty’s sister, would not stop talking about herself, and Walter brought up the Club of Rome, an organization whose goal is to control the volume of humans on Earth. Patty’s parents gave a mixed response to this subject. Before they were married, Patty also went to Hibbing, Walter’s home town. Here, Walter confronted Patty about her...