Summary: Chapter 2
I listen, eavesdropping into her life,
while she lights Kent after Kent and the room fills with smoke while
she kills the bottle.
See Important Quotations Explained
Rayona and Christine put three gallons of gas into the
Volaré. Christine decides that they are going to go to Aunt Ida’s,
and that they should leave right away. Rayona reflects on her mother’s
few ties to Seattle, the most notable of which is her lifetime membership to
Village Video. Christine had seen an advertisement for a ninety-nine-cent
membership the week before her last visit to the hospital and decided
it was too good a deal to pass up, even though she does not own
a VCR. When Christine and Rayona had arrived at Village Video to
sign up they saw a woman arguing with the store manager because
she had bought a membership just four days earlier that had cost
her significantly more. Christine was delighted at the woman’s loss.
Christine and Rayona also learned that the special offer was for lifetime
membership and Christine therefore decided that the membership should
be in Rayona’s name because she would retain her membership at Village
Video even after Christine’s death. The memory of her mother’s words—“’Till
death”—as Rayona signed the Village Video contract gives Rayona
a strangely depressed feeling. Rayona remembers that the week after
they got the membership at Village Video, Christine checked into
the hospital.
Later that night, Christine and Rayona pack for the trip
to Aunt Ida’s. They fill four trash bags with various things and
do not finish until five in the morning. Rayona wants to leave right
away but Christine insists on waiting a few hours so she can stop
at Village Video. They wait for the store to open, rent Christine
and Little Big Man, and then set off for Montana. As she drives,
Christine starts to talk about Aunt Ida, her adoptive mother whom
she believes is her biological mother. Aunt Ida is actually Christine’s
mother, but since Ida was unmarried when Christine was born, she
decided to have Christine and her son, Lee, both call her “aunt.”
Christine asks Rayona if she will miss anyone in Seattle, then quickly
concludes that Rayona won’t. Rayona knows her mother is right because
they have moved around too much for Rayona to make any friends.
After a couple days of driving, Christine and Rayona
arrive in Montana. Less than a mile before they reach Aunt Ida’s,
Christine accidentally drives the Volaré into a dip in the road,
and it stalls. The car will not start up again, so they start walking.
Aunt Ida is not glad to see Christine and asks her for three reasons
why she should welcome Christine home. Christine gives two reasons—that
she is Ida’s daughter and that she needs a place to stay—but as
a third reason she can only think of “go fuck yourself anyway.”
After she spits this third reason at Ida, Christine turns and runs
back down the road. Rayona tries to follow her but cannot keep up.
A passing pickup truck stops for Christine, and Rayona collapses
furiously into the dirt by the side of the road. Aunt Ida comes
for Rayona, and the two walk back toward the house.
Analysis: Chapter 2
Rayona’s portrayal of her mother’s actions continues to
be less than flattering. She finds Christine’s membership to Village
Video absurd since they do not own a VCR. From Rayona’s point of
view, Christine’s enthusiasm over the membership deal at Village
Video seems impractical and ridiculous. In addition, Christine’s
decision to put Rayona’s name on the membership seems rather selfish,
especially when she comes back a week later and rents two videos
with no intention of returning them—Christine’s own interpretation
of what “lifetime membership” means.
As Christine and Rayona drive away from Seattle, Rayona’s already
severe sense of isolation becomes even more profound. Leaving Seattle
gives Rayona the opportunity to reflect that she has never stayed
anywhere long enough to have friends. She has always been the new
kid, avoided because she is “[t]oo big, too smart, not Black, not
Indian, not friendly.” Elgin, her father, is the only person in
Seattle Rayona might conceivably miss, but she has largely given up
on him. The only person Rayona has is her mother, which makes Rayona’s
increasing disillusionment with and eventual abandonment by Christine
all the more poignant. Without her mother, Rayona feels rootless
and cast adrift. Infuriated and confused after Christine leaves
her at the end of the chapter, Rayona has difficulty finding an
appropriate outlet for her feelings. She can only tear at the ground
and scream incoherently at Aunt Ida. It is not until Ida takes Rayona
into her arms that Rayona is grounded again. Rayona’s search for
belonging has suddenly become more precarious, as she has been separated
from Christine, the most stable influence in her life up to this
point. All her life, her circle of family and friends has consisted
almost exclusively of her mother. Left to her own devices now, Rayona
must find something new to hold on to.
We continue to see popular media and culture take a prominent place
in the story. Christine makes two rentals at the video store: Christine
and Little Big Man. She chooses the former because of the title
and the latter because she dated one of the extras. Both of these movies
offer her some sort of escape from the unpleasant reality of her
life. These videos follow Rayona through her subsequent adventures
and become a kind of symbol for her. Pop culture also provides an
important moment of foreshadowing: the song lyric Aunt Ida is singing
when Rayona and Christine arrive, “Looking for love in all the wrong
places,” in addition to describing the emptiness that Christine
finds in Ida and Rayona finds in Christine, becomes very important
later in the novel when Aunt Ida and Christine get to tell their
stories.
payment page
