November Blues

November gets home, fixes herself a tuna salad sandwich, and eats it, thinking about “all the good stuff her baby was getting” (166). She is still unsure what to do about the baby and asks herself if she is “eating well so the Prescotts could buy a healthy kid” (166).

As November flips through the TV channels,she comes across a program about mothers who have had complications during childbirth. Although she knows that she shouldn’t be watching it, she finds it so “horrifying and mesmerizing” (166) that she can’t switch it off. Feeling like she needs to stop watching the program and to leave the house, November decides to take a trip to the library, hoping to see Olivia there.

Walking down the street to the bus stop, November realizes how much she loves sunshine. She gets on the bus and sits down in the first empty seat, thinking only about the image of her baby on the sonogram. November is startled when a girl sitting next to her asks her when she is due. She notices that the girl is also pregnant, and soon learns that she is 12 and will have her baby any day now. When November tells the girl that she is “just a kid” (168) who should be “playing with Barbies or something” (168), the girl assures her that she is very mature for her age.