Scene 4 Summary

The scene switches abruptly to the hospital bed where Dorothea lies, insensate, following her stroke. Both Artie and Echo are at her bedside, but the two are arguing as to whether there is any point in trying to interact with Dorothea with her in a coma. Echo thinks there is. Artie, predictably, thinks there is not. Echo continues to see her grandmother as a person, while Artie sees her as a vegetable. Artie finally leaves in frustration.

With Artie gone, Echo explains that since her grandmother raised her from infancy, there was a time when she wondered if she had ever had a mother at all. Following an unexpected phone call from Artie-whom Echo tells Dorothea is only a dead person-Dorothea explains to her granddaughter why she gave her such an unusual name. Her goal was to make Echo recall the best things...