Chapter 6 Summary

Laura Brown is baking her husband's birthday cake with the help of her young son, Richie. In her mind, she's created the vision of the perfect cake. As a housewife, this cake is her art, and she has high hopes for its success. Her loving and sensitive son has picked up on the importance his mother gives to the cake, and he becomes extremely nervous about making a mistake as he helps her measure out the flour. After he follows her instructions to the letter and dumps the flour in the bowl, her first response is, "Oopsie." (pg. 78) Richie cries quietly over his mistake, until his mother reassures him he actually did it correctly. Unconscious of the effect her rigid standards of perfectionism are having on her son, Laura wonders why he's so delicate. As he dries his tears, Laura tells herself that...