Summary

Tessie and Milton Stephanides decide to have a second child, specifically a girl, when their son Chapter Eleven, is five. Milton follows the “medical” advice of their long-time family friend and chiropractor, Peter Tatakis, who has theories on sperm and body temperature. Milton buys his wife a special thermometer, but Tessie has reservations about playing God, as well as the detached, clinical way Milton approaches making a baby. Her mother-in-law, Desdemona, subtly tries to warn Tessie not to get pregnant again, without explaining her anxiety. At Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, Tessie has an uncomfortable run-in with her former fiancé, Father Michael Antoniou, who is now married to Milton’s sister.

On Easter Sunday 1959, Tessie’s temperature rises. Milton abandons an Easter egg game with Chapter Eleven to take advantage of the situation. Cal, the narrator of the novel, is conceived that day...