25. May 19, 2021

On May 19, 2021, Bar­bara rush­es to Kin­er Memo­ri­al’s oncol­o­gy depart­ment after a call from Marie, expect­ing some­thing rou­tine yet urgent. The hos­pi­tal lounge, with its com­fort­ing decor and ambi­ent music, con­trasts with the ten­sion of those wait­ing. Bar­bara finds Marie, who explains that their mutu­al acquain­tance, Olivia, has can­cer but it’s a slow-pro­gress­ing type that she has lived with for years. This vis­it, how­ev­er, is not sole­ly for a check-up; Olivia has news for Bar­bara.

Olivia’s con­di­tion, described with her usu­al wry humor as “ass-can­cer,” has been a long-term bat­tle, mon­i­tored care­ful­ly by Dr. Brown. Despite its malig­nan­cy, the can­cer crawls at a pace allow­ing Olivia to man­age life almost as usu­al, with increas­ing doc­tor vis­its to mon­i­tor its growth. Bar­bara, a high school senior, momen­tar­i­ly puts aside her aca­d­e­m­ic pri­or­i­ties, con­cerned and curi­ous about the rea­son for Marie’s call and Olivi­a’s con­di­tion.

The dis­cus­sion moves towards Bar­bara’s life, her poet­ry, and an enve­lope Olivia presents to Bar­bara, which con­tains news of Bar­bara’s inclu­sion in the Pen­ley poet­ry short­list — a sig­nif­i­cant achieve­ment greet­ed with a mix of relief and emo­tion­al over­whelm by Bar­bara. This moment offers a brief respite from the grim atmos­phere of the hos­pi­tal, show­cas­ing a blend of per­son­al tri­umph amidst ongo­ing strug­gles.

After leav­ing the hos­pi­tal, the dri­ve back to Ridge Road is filled with a mix of nos­tal­gia, as Olivia sings along to tunes from her past, and antic­i­pa­tion as Bar­bara process­es her achieve­ment. Despite Olivi­a’s phys­i­cal frailty high­light­ed by a slow, unsteady walk and her can­did acknowl­edg­ment of her bod­i­ly func­tions, she main­tains a sharp wit and a strong spir­it.

The chap­ter clos­es with a touch­ing yet com­ic moment in the foy­er of their home, where Olivia, ever the matri­arch with a blend of can­dor and humor, encour­ages Bar­bara to release her pent-up emo­tions in a scream, acknowl­edg­ing both the weight of her med­ical con­di­tion and Bar­bara’s recent suc­cess. This blend of life’s ups and downs, cap­tured on a seem­ing­ly ordi­nary day, frames the sto­ry’s emo­tion­al land­scape, high­light­ing resilience, rela­tion­ships, and the com­plex inter­play of human emo­tions in the face of adver­si­ty and achieve­ment.