Summary

Thirty-seven-year-old black woman Marjorie arrives at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) to renew her driver’s license. She is described as already having had a difficult day, and as dreading having to go to a DMV office that was not her usual one. There, she does not have to wait; here, she does. She sits down, trying to calm herself with the various techniques that she learned from her therapist. She tells herself that she is not going to lose her temper: “Not today, Marjorie”, she says to herself (136). She notices the length of the lines and starts to become angry, taking her anger out on a little boy who is staring at her and sticking her tongue out at him.

The narration then begins to shift back and forth between Marjorie struggling to remain calm and patient at the DMV...