Summary

Mail, Measles, and More – On her thirteenth birthday, Mother gives Marlee a silver letter opener engraved with her name, because she’s been getting so much mail (i.e. notices from the WEC). This leads Marlee to reflect on how little she actually talks with Mother anymore. The day after her birthday, Marlee comes down with a bad case of measles. She’s confined to bed for a few days, but at one point when she’s feeling a little better, she finds Mother reading a newspaper article announcing that a similar race/education dispute in another state has been resolved. She tells Marlee that she’s sick of all the fighting, and just wants Judy to come home. Marlee brings down some WEC flyers, and Mother helps her fold them. “Working on a project together had turned Liz and me into friends...