Summary

Fire trucks and ambulances arrive at the scene of the protagonist’s death. Some neighbors come out to see what is happening, but none of them seem to show real regret or sadness. The narration then poses the question, “Has anything of significance changed in the last forty-three years?” (54), which is the number of years that the protagonist lived. The narrative then flashes back to a Sunday when the protagonist went to a nearby park with her husband and daughters. They converse with another mother who is there. The mother states that the protagonist’s husband must be unhappy that he has no son; the husband diplomatically rejects that idea.

In Chapter 3, “Inciting Incidents,” the narration reveals that the protagonist was, in fact, killed by police officers, who shot her to death while she simply stood in her own driveway. The narrative then shifts...