Summary

“What Is Missing from the World” begins with Anunu explaining the presence of Grandmother to Kate. “Oh, there are plenty of grandmothers, little g, but Grandmother, big G, is impossible, some women feel, to find. That is the absence that makes us afraid,” (102). In this sense, Anunu frames the idea of Grandmother not only as something that exists in the universe, but something that exists within women, and therefore a place that can be achieved.

Kate tells Anunu about her trip to the Colorado River, when she says, “seemed to be more about emptying myself of the past” (103). The more she reflects on this trip, she recognizes earlier portions of her life as “dress rehearsals” for where she is now (103).

During each day of the trip, Kate no longer takes the medicine, but continues...