Summary
Chapter 17: In the Course of a Lifetime
Phoebe, worried that Sal has not yet told her father about Mrs. Cadaver, asks Sal what she will do if Mrs. Cadaver murders her father. To her surprise, Sal finds herself saying that she will go and live with her mother, even though she knows this is impossible. At Phoebe's, the girls find Mrs. Winterbottom hacking glumly at a pan of burned brownies. Both Phoebe and Prudence become frustrated with Mrs. Winterbottom's attempts to help them with their problems. Phoebe finds another note on the doorstep, asking them, "In the course of a lifetime, what does it matter?" The message seems to strike a chord with Mrs. Winterbottom, but her daughters do not notice the change in her demeanor. Sal walks home, musing that Phoebe's and Prudence's problems do not matter in the course of a lifetime, but the way they are treating their mother does.
Chapter 18: The Good Man
Sal pauses in her double narrations to tell the reader about the events leading up to her mother's departure. She begins by describing her father's character, saying that he is pure of heart, considerate to a fault, and loves the earth and the outdoors. Sal remembers that shortly before her mother left, her mother was berating herself for not being as selfless as her father and stated that she had to leave to clear her head and balance herself. Sal admits that her mother was not well, having undergone some stress and shock that Sal does not at this time describe. Her mother left Sal a note promising her speedy return, and Sal describes the tense and empty days following her departure. When they found out her mother was not returning, Sal's father flew to Idaho, and upon his return put the house up for sale, feeling that Sal's mother was too painfully present in the house and the farm. He also began to correspond with Margaret Cadaver at this time. Sal, outraged and secretly hoping that her mother would return to the farm, threw tantrum after tantrum, but, eventually, when her father agreed to rent the house instead of sell it, she acquiesced and drove with him to Ohio. On the ride up, Sal found herself, like her mother, wishing her father were not so perfect so that she could blame someone—not her mother— for what had happened.
Chapter 19: Fish in the Air
Sal, at Phoebe's urging, tries to warn her father about Mrs. Cadaver. Her father is glad Sal wants to talk about Mrs. Cadaver, but listens skeptically to Sal's worries. When her father offers to explain about her, Sal refuses his explanations. In English class, Sal finds herself daydreaming about the afternoons her mother would read stories, often Native American, to her in the fields. After class, Mr. Birkway assigns Sal a mini-journal. As Sal and Phoebe are walking home, they find themselves face to face with the lunatic. Screaming, the run to Phoebe's house and rush inside. Mrs. Winterbottom tries to calm them, but looks just as frightened as Phoebe.
Chapter 20: The Blackberry Kiss
In her mini-journal, Sal writes about a habit she picked up from her mother. Sal had been watching her mother one morning from her bedroom window. Her mother, thinking no one could see her, popped a couple of fresh blackberries in her mouth and threw her arms around and kissed a tree. Later, Sal had crept up to the tree, on which she thought she could see a small purple stain from the blackberries. Sal kissed the tree, and, since then, often kisses trees, which, she writes, always taste faintly of blackberries. The next day in English class, they read e.e. cummings's "the little horse is newlY," and Sal enjoys ruminating on the newborn colt's first experiences and sensations. After school, Ben uses a spurious claim that he can read palms to trick Sal into letting him hold her hand. Sal, shocked at her body's pleasant reaction to his touch, storms off without a word. Ben trails her, and when he leaves her at Phoebe's doorstep, he kisses her ear.
Inside, Sal finds Phoebe worrying about a note from Mrs. Winterbottom telling her to lock the doors. Notes for Prudence and Mr. Winterbottom rest on the table. As the other members of the family come home and open their notes, the family finds that Mrs. Winterbottom has gone away for a few days without any substantive explanation. Phoebe flies into a panic, certain that the lunatic is responsible for her disappearance. At home, Sal relays this turn of events to her father, who tells Sal sadly that usually people come back. Sal hopes wildly that his words might mean that through some miracle, her own mother will come back.
Analysis
Written messages appear throughout the novel, buried within its different narratives, as alternatives and companions to storytelling. Sometimes they offer an alternative to speech, as when both Mrs. Winterbottom and Sal's mother leave notes announcing their departures. These letters demonstrate the difficulties inherent in verbal confrontation an in interpreting the stories of others: both Sal's and Phoebe's mothers cannot bring themselves to say goodbye to their daughters and leave notes instead, but both girls pore over the notes, struggling to understand their meaning and significance. Sometimes, as in the case of the notes left on Phoebe's doorstep, written language intentionally mystifies, while at the same time adding to or encouraging verbal discourse. The stranger's messages on the doorstep mystify Phoebe's family members but find their way into the family's thoughts and vocabulary. The messages and letters feed, drive, and enrich the verbal narrative.
