Part 2: Torsion, Chapters 13, 14 and 15 Summary

It is now November 1959 and Persia and Iris have moved once again, this time to an even shabbier neighborhood and more rundown apartment than the last one. Iris is a senior in high school from which she will graduate fourth in her class winning her a full scholarship to Syracuse University. Iris rarely sees Jinx anymore and when she does, Jinx will not acknowledge Iris's presence.

In January 1960 Persia is fired from her cocktail waitress job at another bar, Covino's Bar & Grill, because she has passed out in the Ladies room due to her alcoholic illness. The humiliation Persia feels is overwhelming and she silently tries to justify her alcoholism and her work in the degrading job as a better alternative than accepting money from men which Persia will not do. Persia's health rapidly deteriorates and Iris's...