Summary

In August 2004, Alice deals with the knowledge that her mother and sister have been dead for years. She's frustrated that she keeps having to remember that they're dead.

Lydia asks Alice to talk about how she feels and the effects of the Alzheimer's. Alice describes the feeling of being left out when she can't follow conversations quickly enough to participate and of trying to find a specific word that eludes her. She compares it to trying to pick up a glass of water but the hand won't obey the command to pick it up. She says she's aware of her struggle and that she sometimes forgets that she was even looking for a word by the time she remembers it.

One day, Alice loses her current book, “Moby Dick.” She thinks she might have left it at the beach and hopes that's...