Chapter 3 Summary

As she lies on the floor in her room, Rachel considers the letter to Jeremy. She will mail it tomorrow. She knows that for 2 or 3 weeks--maybe even a month--she will check the mailbox, hoping for a reply from Jeremy. He almost never responds. In her entire life, she has received only a handful of postcards from Jeremy and a total of three letters. The first letter arrived when she was 8. Jeremy was living in Boston. The second was sent from San Francisco when she was 11. The last letter is only 6 months old, and it was sent from New Orleans. Sometimes it bothers Rachel that he doesn't write more, but her brilliant brother fascinates her.

Jeremy received several scholarships to college, but dropped out after a year to enlist in the Army. He was sent to Vietnam for 3 years. She overhears her father saying...