Summary

In Chapter 2, when Tiny calls “the first violinist to tell her” she is back from Berlin, the violinist reveals that when they “didn’t hear” from her, they started rehearsing “with another cellist” (41). Hoping for some sympathy, she tells the violinist she is “pregnant with an owl-baby” (41). Although confused, the violinist agrees to let Tiny rehearse with them.

Everyone at rehearsal regards Tiny disapprovingly. Although she tries to play well, her fingers “swell up” (43). She does not want to quit, but agrees to leave.

That night, Tiny feels the owl-baby swimming inside her. When she tells her husband, they “cry together, but for different reasons” (45). After he leaves the next day, she feels the baby begging for meat.

At the sonogram appointment, Tiny worries the doctor is “hurting the owl-baby” (46). Her husband exclaims at the image. Tiny sees the owl-baby grabbing her uterine wall...