Summary

Chapter 7 starts on October 1, 1924. Mazie and Rosie find a two-bedroom flat on Grand Street six doors down from where they once originally lived with Louis and Jeanie. They have only the massive old table and couch ("A table to eat on and a couch to faint on."). Mazie once more walks to work. They have given up on Jeanie. Rosie soon hates the kitchen, complains of indelible mold invisible to her sister. Mazie's quiet 27th birthday is spent enjoying ice cream with raspberries and chocolate sauce. Mazie finds a chocolate bar on her bed. Two weeks late, Jeanie's birthday greetings arrive: she hears Mazie in her head when she least expects it. As if, Mazie thinks, she'd listen to anything I say. Within two months they're moving again, because Rosie's compulsions (and shouting) are consuming her and alarming the neighbors. The new kitchen...