Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

Dolores is one month old, a sickly baby her mother struggles to keep warm and healthy. Mary puts the baby in a chest in front of the fire in the kitchen while she prepares dinner. The other children are outside playing. Mary calls them inside while her husband dresses in one of his best suits in order to meet with a bookie and make a bet on a horse race that will run that night. While Mary fights to get the children to wash their hands before they eat, Frankie takes all the household cash, money Mary earned working the night shift at a local bakery, from a tin where Mary has hidden it.

After Frankie leaves, Mary goes to get the rent money because she knows one of Joe Medora's men will be there soon to collect it. Mary cannot...