Chapter 19 Summary

Despite the grief in her life, Reta continues to immerse herself in the fictional world of Alicia and Roman. Tom and the girls still watch the news on television and are presently fixated on the American presidential election, which seemed to have more to do with "chads" than with actual votes. They all agree that there is quite a contradiction between the election results in Florida and the proud words of the American constitution as it outlines a government system of checks and balances.

In the meantime, Christine and Natalie also study for their exams. French, history, math, and language arts are still important subjects even in the light of their sister's rejection of all that is normal in society. Reta muses to herself that perhaps it is all this normalcy which is so monstrous. Everything seems to be turned on its head...