A Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Rayona

Chapter 1

In this first chapter we are introduced to the main characters, Rayona and Christine. Christine is Rayona's mother, and she is ill from drinking and smoking too much. She is often in the hospital and is on percasets. Rayona is of mixed heritage with American Indian on her mother's side and African American on her father's side. She and her mother aren't very close. They live together in a small apartment in Seattle, WA. In chapter one, Christine tries to keep Rayona's father with her, because although they are still married, they don't live together. Christine threatens to attempt suicide and destroy the car so that Rayona could have the insurance money; however, the car is out of gas so she doesn't succeed.

Chapter 2

The chapter begins with Christine and Rayona filling the car with gas and driving home. One of the first reoccurring themes and symbols first appears in this chapter. Christine gets Rayona a lifetime membership to Village Video. This doesn't seem to have great meaning now, but it comes up again in several chapters and might hold greater meaning for the novel. Christine decides to leave Seattle and return to the Reservation. She asks her friend Charlene to steal her medicine and send it to her. Charlene agrees to try for as long as she can. Christine and Rayona pack all their things into garbage bags and leave. Before leaving, the stop at Village Video and rent two movies. They fill the car with gas along the way at a Conoco, where they meet Sky who will show up in later chapters. Christine leaves Rayona with her mother, who they call Aunt Ida, and disappears.

Chapter 3

Aunt Ida and Rayona aren't too sure what to make of each other. Rayona stays in her mother's old room, wears her old clothes, and looks through her old yearbooks. Aunt Ida tends to generally ignore Rayona as long as she doesn't interrupt her TV programs. Ida has a priest come to talk to Rayona. He enrolls her at the mission school and gets her involved with the God Squad. It is here that she meets Annabelle and Foxy. Foxy is Rayona's cousin, and he and Annabelle are mean. Father Tom is in charge of the God Squad and becomes Rayona's only friend, although she doesn't care much for him. She begins to help out around the mission, causing a further rift between her and the other kids. A package comes for her mother, but Aunt Ida doesn't tell her mother. Christine comes later when no one is home to get it, and leaves before she sees anyone.

Chapter 4

In this chapter Father Tom takes Rayona to a park for a convention. Father Tom tries to get Rayona to open up to him, but she lies to him about her family and her father. She suggests that she would like to return to Seattle. They decide to go swimming when they arrive at the park. Father Tom thinks that the water is too cold to swim in, but Rayona goes anyway. She swims to a wooden yellow raft in the lake and pulls herself up. Father Tom goes in the water and swims toward her, but he gets a cramp. Rayona saves him from drowning. She pulls him up on the raft and it is here that he makes a move on her. He pushes up against her and she kisses his face. He pulls away and is upset at his reaction because he is a man of the cloth and old enough to be her father. It is then that Rayona tells him the truth about her family. They go back to their campsite. Father Tom gives Rayona money and arranges for her to take a train from the park to Seattle. She takes his money, but waves the train on. Father Tom is gone, and she is now on her own.

Chapter 5

Rayona meets Sky again in this chapter. He tells her jokes and gives her coffee. She makes up a story about why she is on her own and where her parents are. He calls his wife, Evelyn, and she gets Rayona a job as maintenance at the park. She meets the boys who are concerned only with meeting the pretty lifeguards. She does make friends with one of the boys though. She lives in Evelyn and Sky's trailer. While working her first day, she finds a scrap of a letter to a girl on the ground. She reads over it and keeps it in her wallet.

Chapter 6

Rayona tells Sky and Evelyn that she her parents are on vacation in Switzerland and that she is on an adventure of her own. She says she came her while escaping from priests trying to convert her. This wins their sympathy. They check her wallet after she falls asleep and find the letter piece she found in the park. They read it and think that her story is true. In this chapter we are introduced to Ellen DeMarco. She's a lifeguard at the park and all the boys are obsessed with her. Rayona sees her swimming and is in awe. She tries to learn everything she can about the girl then. Rayona also finds that she can keep lost things if they are not claimed. She finds a blanket to give to Evelyn. Evelyn does not like to take Rayona's money, but would love the blanket. Rayona makes eye contact with Ellen. Ellen smiles at her and tells the kids she works with not to leave a mess for others to clean up. Rayona spends lots of time analyzing this encounter. Rayona meets Ellen and her parents in the kitchen one day. Ellen introduces her as a friend. Ellen's parents talk about how great things are, about Rayona and Ellen, and about their dog. When Rayona hears them say the dog's name, she realizes that the letter she has is to Ellen, and that Evelyn has heard this and will no longer believe her story. She runs out of the kitchen. She reads the letter and tries to picture the DeMarco's, but she can't. All she sees is her own mother.

Chapter 7

Rayona tells Evelyn the truth, and is surprised to find that Evelyn is not mad. She says she knows how Rayona feels, and that there are things people don't like to talk about. Rayona tells Evelyn the truth about everything, her mom, her dad, her grandmother, and Father Tom. Evelyn says she is taking Rayona home to her sick mother. Rayona agrees and the three of them get in the car and start driving. They head to Havre where a rodeo is going on. Rayona quickly runs into a drunk Foxy at the rodeo. She tells Evelyn and Sky to go sit down and that she'll talk to Foxy about where to find her mother. Foxy threatens Rayona and forces her to take his place in the rodeo since he's too drunk to ride. Rayona rides, and she gets thrown three times, but she keeps trying. She is given a silver belt buckle as a special prize for her spirit, and it is then that the audience all sees that she is a woman, and not Foxy the man.

Chapter 8

Rayona meets Dayton, the man her mother is staying with. Father Tom is also at the rodeo and comes over to talk to Rayona, but Evelyn scares him off with a knowing look. Rayona says good-bye to Evelyn and Sky, and Dayton takes her to his house to see her mother. Dayton tells Rayona about riding on the ride over and that she could be a great rider. When she sees her mother, Christine does not welcome her and they fight. Christine and Ida had been worried about her, and Christine had tried to find her in Seattle. Dayton tells Christine about how great Rayona was at the rodeo, and Christine is surprised. They see Rayona on the news. Her mother says she can't think about all of it now and needs to go to bed. They settle down and Rayona sleeps on the pull out bed at Dayton's. The next morning she wakes and tries to ride the horse again. She gets thrown, and she doesn't try to get back up. Her mother comes and sits next to her in the grass. Christine tells Rayona about how she lost her faith. How she waited for the opening of the letter the blessed virgin gave to Lucy at Fatima. She thought that either the world would come to an end or the Russians would be converted. Since the Russians hadn't been converted, she waited for the end of the world. When neither came, she demanded an explanation from Sister Alvina. When told it was a mystery, Christine lost all her faith. The chapter ends with Rayona trying to make an excuse for why the prediction was wrong, but her mother didn't agree.

Christine

Chapter 9

This is the first chapter told from Christine's point of view. We learn of her relationship with her brother, and how important it is to her. Christine tells of how when she was young, she was daring and would try anything. She tells of how one day, she was dared to do something that she was afraid of, and how Lee, her brother, saved her life by being there for her. From then on Lee helped her through rough times. Lee was the only person Christine trusted and confided in. Dayton appeared on the reservation shortly after that incident. He became Lee's shadow and followed him everywhere. Christine thought it was partially because Dayton wanted to be near her, and she started to try and think of him as something other than her brother's friend. She began to like him, and at the powwow, took him into a field. He kissed her, but nothing else. He told her that he looked at her as a sister, Christine insulted him, and then she left. She and Dayton began to fight for Lee's attentions and stopped caring about what Lee wanted. Lee and Dayton became more interested in world events, like JFK's murder and the war in Vietnam. They both became interested in the history of the Native American people, and spent time talking to their elders to learn of how things once were. Lee was also into the rodeo, and he was good at it. Christine moved out of the house and in with her aunt, and she ran wild. Christine and a group of people went out while Lee was home with a sprained knee. Christine made rude comments to Dayton about how he wasn't really one of them and that they were nothing like the Vietnamese. This came after Dayton told her that she need to be more aware of world events. Lee later confronted Christine about her rude words to Dayton, and he told her that she need to open her eyes and start paying attention to the world. It was the first time he'd ever been mean to her, and Christine was hurt. She went home to tell her mother, although they hadn't talked in months. Ida told her that Lee was fine and growing up just the way he should. Christine looked around the house and found that with her bedroom door shut, you'd never know she had ever lived there. Aunt Ida had won, she was Lee's mother, and Christine didn't have as much influence over him as she did.

Chapter 10

Christine asks Dayton what his classification is, and we find learn that Dayton's father died in the military. This exempts him from going to war. After talking to Lee, Christine finds that he doesn't intend to enlist either, that he intend to dodge the draft. Christine is upset that her brother will not fight in the war. She wants to be like everyone else, and she wants him to go so that she can gain popularity off of him, like when he was a cowboy. Christine takes him out in a car and she slaps him when he says he won't enlist. She and Lee avoid each other, and one day something crosses her desk at work that gives her an idea of how to get to Lee. Christine realizes that he wants to be on the tribal council. She talks to Dayton and points out that a draft dodger could never get elected. Dayton talks to Lee about it. They both disappear for weeks, and then reappear at the town festival. Lee has cut his hair and enlisted. He gives his braid to his mother. Christine takes a job in Seattle and leaves. Lee takes her to the place where she'll meet the bus. He shakes her hand good-bye and tells her that he will visit her in Seattle. She imitates the other passengers and Lee laughs. As the bus gets ready to leave, she imitates Lee, and he just looks on not sure how he feels about it. Christine changes jobs often once in the city. She's looking for what is truly her, what only she can do. She goes out a lot and wears almost every type of clothes and makeup. Lee writes to her, but he never sees her. One day, Christine gets a letter that Lee wrote while he was in Vietnam. She tries hard after that to avoid hearing about the war. Later, Christine receives another letter, this one from Dayton, saying that Lee is MIA. Christine is upset, and she goes out right after work that night trying to avoid thinking about it. She wanders into a new bar, and finds that it is all black. She feels out of place and is debating on leaving when the bartender talks to her. He is in the military, and Christine tells him about her brother. He buys her dinner and offers her words of comfort. He takes her back to his hotel room, and they spend the night together. Christine feels like a new woman.

Chapter 11

Christine was happy to be with Elgin, and she began to think about having a child. They went to a park and had lunch and made love, and she knew then that she was pregnant. Elgin told her they would have to be married then. Elgin took a job as a postman, and Christine took her old job in the factory. They lived happily for awhile, but as Christine back more pregnant, Elgin stayed out later. Christine tried to convince herself that he wasn't cheating on her, but she knew he was. Elgin would disappear for days or long periods of time without any explanation. She eventually asked him if they were ever going to get married. Soon after they were married in a courthouse without any real witnesses that they knew. Elgin still stayed out late. Christine wrote home to tell her mother that she was married to a black man and that she was having a child. She also asked if there was any news about Lee. In December, she received a letter from Dayton saying that Lee was dead. As she read the letter, her water broke and she had to leave for the hospital. Later, as she lay with her baby girl in her arms, Elgin finally showed up, saying that he hadn't known where she was. Christine shows him the letter, and he's sorry and knows how she must feel. They take their daughter home, and for awhile things are okay, but Christine has lost her faith in him since Lee was dead when Elgin had told her he would be okay. Things went down hill again. Elgin stayed out later, and Christine got a sitter and started going out again too. Shortly after, she moved out and into a place of her own. Elgin called every once in a while saying they should try to get back together, but they never did.

Chapter 12

It's been 14 months since Dayton's letter, and they've finally returned Lee's corpse to be buried. Christine packs up herself and her daughter and drives back to the reservation. She drives strait through, stopping only to put gas in her car. When she arrives, she doesn't receive a warm greeting. She finds that no one will really talk to her, and she believes that it is because they blame her for Lee's death. When she sees Dayton at the funeral, they don't talk, but do end up going out after while her mother takes Rayona. Dayton tells her that Lee's dying is not her fault and not to worry about it. He asks her about her daughter and her husband, and Christine tells him that they are all happy. Later they are all at a service where they talk about Lee's life and dance. Rayona enjoys this as well as Christine.

Chapter 13

After the funeral, Christine leaves the reservation without any problems. They took their time coming home and stopped for a rest twice. When they arrived home on Saturday, Christine was hopping to find a sign that Elgin had been there, but there wasn't one. She dressed Rayona and went out to a bar. There she saw Elgin with another woman. When Elgin saw her, he came to see how she was. She told him the roads were a little rough on the way up, but the trip back was good. He knew that Christine was hurting and he stayed with her for two weeks. Christine talks about how she realizes that she and Elgin can't stand to live together for long, but that she takes what she needs from him the same way he does with her. Aunt Ida calls and says that she is in town visiting a friend at the hospital and wants to come see Christine. Ida comes, and she doubts that Christine is really married since Elgin wasn't living there. She gives Rayona a doll, and takes them both to the hospital with them. At the hospital they meet Christine's great aunt who is sick with cancer. She clings to Christine and says that she looks like her grandmother. They leave shortly after, and the next day Aunt Ida leaves to go home. Elgin comes to stay again for a few days. Christine talks about how much being a mother really means to her. We discover that she is very proud of Rayona and that they get along really well. Rayona adjusts to moving easily and works hard at school. Christine says that she's never really been anything, but she's mother, and she just wanted Ray to be happy. She tried to teach her daughter better than Ida did her. She never wanted Rayona to be perfect; she didn't want to live her life through Ray; She only wanted Rayona to be herself.

Chapter 14

The doctor comes into Christine's hospital room and tells her that she's worn herself out. She drinks and smokes too much and now she's dying. She has 6 months to live. Christine looks at her life and says that it's like listening to music. How some people were rock and roll, and how Rayona was all of her ballads. Rayona comes to visit Christine, and she tries hard not to let Rayona know what is going on. She plays cards with her, trying to keep her from noticing any slip ups she makes. Elgin arrives at the hospital to return the car keys. He asks Ray what is wrong, and Ray is rude back. Christine tries to get Elgin to come back for her when she's well, so that she can talk to him about taking Rayona when she's gone, but he leaves without talking to her. Christine decides to leave the hospital. She steals a candy striper's clothes and sneaks out to the car, tries to jimmy it open, and gets caught by Rayona. She takes her to Tacoma, back where Rayona was first conceived. She tries to drive the car off the side of a hill, and finds that it is out of gas. She and Rayona go home. Christine then decides to go home to the reservation. She asks her friend to send her pills. Before they leave for the reservation, Christine stops and rents movies at Village Video. She wants to leave them for her daughter to remember her by, and her choices reflect her personality and her history. She drives strait through to her mother's house, and the car breaks down when they are nearly there. They walk the rest of the way over the hill to the house. When Ida asks Christine why she should let her stay, Christine tries to find reasons, but can not make a fool of herself in front of Rayona.

Chapter 15

Christine runs away, leaving Rayona behind, hoping Ida will care for her. Foxy picks her up, and takes her to Dayton's house. Foxy is her Aunt Pauline's son, and she wonders if Pauline knows how awful her son is. Foxy tries to learn more about Christine and why she's here, but Christine won't tell. She lets herself into Dayton's house. She looks around and touches everything. She sees pictures on the wall, one of Dayton and Lee, one of Dayton's mother, and one of her holding Rayona as a baby. She eventually settles down and falls asleep on the couch. Dayton comes home and is surprised to find Christine asleep on his couch. While he thinks she's still sleeping, he takes papers off his desk and shoves them in drawers. Christine wakes up and she and Dayton talk about why she's there. She says that she can't go to her husband, that Rayona is with Aunt Ida, and that she's not well. Dayton says that he was going to be moving soon, but if she had no place to go, she could stay there. She arranged herself in the guestroom, and then slept for 14 hours. When she woke up, Dayton was gone, but he left a note saying when he'd be back. Christine went looking around the house for the clippings that Dayton had hidden. She found them and was surprised to find that they were about Dayton. They were accusing him of misconduct with a student, and the courts eventually found him guilty. He spent 5 years in prison. His mother died while he was in prison, and the clipping from the obituaries said that her son was a convict. Christine didn't believe that Dayton really did it. She carefully hid the papers back where she found them. She continued to look through Dayton's house, and she made them both dinner. She soon found that she was low on pills and she called Charlene to see if she had sent more. She found that she had, and that they were sent to Ida's. Christine went to Ida's to get them. She asked Ida about Rayona, and she tried to tell her that she was dying. Ida got upset and said that Rayona was wrong. Christine wasn't sick and those weren't pills in that package. Christine told her that it was true. Ida told her she never wanted her, and Christine responded by saying that had always been very clear. Ida got angry, smashed a chair and ran from the house.

Chapter 16

Christine and Dayton settled into an easy routine. Christine told Dayton everything about Rayona, until Dayton would comment on how Rayona would like something if she were there. He wanted to know if Rayona would like him, and Christine thought she would. Aunt Ida showed up one day, saying that Rayona had run off to Seattle. She asked how Christine was doing, and told her if she needed anything to just ask. She also asked Christine to let her know if she heard from Rayona. Christine called around to people she knew in Seattle, but she couldn't find Rayona. On July 3, Foxy came to get Dayton and the horse for the rodeo. Christine was running low on pills, and she tried not to take them unless she had to while Dayton was gone. He showed up earlier than she expected, and he came with a visitor. When Christine first saw Rayona, she thought she looked like Lee. She found it was Rayona, and was so surprised, she started an argument. Somehow, Dayton got them into the house and settled down. They watched TV and saw Rayona holding up the prize buckle, Lee's buckle. Christine said she couldn't think right now and went to bed. Dayton came with her and stay with her for awhile, but when she woke he was gone. Christine went outside to watch the horse as she always did, to find that Rayona was there, sitting stiff, the way Lee always did after a rodeo. They talked. Later they had Aunt Ida over for dinner, and everything went well. They watched Ida's TV program. While everyone was out one day, Father Tom stopped by and gave Christine the pills she needed. He said not to bother anyone but him when she needed more, and that he hoped they were the right ones. Aunt Ida had only had one to give as a sample. Christine spent all her good moments, mostly in the morning, with Rayona. She taught her how to drive, and when she was ready, they borrowed Dayton's truck and she taught her stick. They went to get Babe, the horse, from the breeding farm. Rayona bought her and her mother breakfast. They talked and sang to the radio. It was hard getting Babe into the truck, and Christine was sure that the horse was pregnant. She crouched down in her seat on the way home, and let the music carry her along.

Ida

Chapter 17

In this chapter, Ida begins to tell about her childhood. We learn that she has a sister, and that her mother is sick in bed. Both daughters have much responsibility. Ida's mother sent for her sister, Clara. Ida quickly latched on to Clara and idolized her. Clara took Ida's room. Ida and Pauline had once been very close, but now Ida spent her time with Clara, and she and Pauline grew apart. We learn that their father did not really want Clara coming at first, and that he is very concerned with image. Annie, Ida's mother, convinced Lecon, her husband, to let Clara come to take care of her. She really needed someone to keep her company, even if it was Clara, whom she'd never really liked. As time goes on, Ida and her father offer Clara many things. Clara does almost no work. Clara spent a lot of time with Ida, and Ida confided things in her, like her crush on William Pretty Dog. Clara gave her advice. Pauline got a rosary at church, she cherished it, and she always prayed with it. After she found Clara with it one day, she never touched it again, and it got thrown away. This is one of many instances that show Pauline's dislike of Clara. At the end of the chapter, Clara is pregnant. Lecon and Clara had an affair, and now Clara was going to have a baby. Clara was going to leave, and Lecon was worried about his image. Clara offered Lecon a suggestion on how to make things better. She said that she and Ida could go away, and that when she came back they could say that the baby was Ida's. She said that young girls often make mistakes, and everyone will forgive her in time. Annie was against it, but Lecon said it was good, as long as Ida would agree. To everyone's surprise, she came in and said that she would do it, that she would pretend the baby was hers. They had a priest who kept secretes to help take them both away to a place where Clara could have the baby. He was concerned for Ida, but when she agreed, he helped them. Clara and Ida would be going to a convent in Denver.

Chapter 18

The nuns in Denver were impressed and awed by Clara. They listened to her tale many times, and Clara always had a new way to tell it, none of them the truth. They compared her to saints. Ida was to be Clara's sister, and she had no rights. While Clara didn't have to do any work, Ida did hard labor of washing and cleaning. Ida became withdrawn, and she pretended not to know English. Still, Ida had dreams that when she returned home, all would be well, and that she and Clara would be close again. That everyone would be happy. When the baby was born, the nuns didn't want to let Ida see it. She bullied them, and they finally let her see Clara. Clara told Ida that she was thinking of letting the nuns give the baby to a good family, and she let the nuns name the baby, and they named her Christine. Ida was upset that Clara would give Christine away. She wanted the baby, and she threatened to tell the nuns the truth if she didn't give the baby to her. Ida took the baby home, and Clara stayed with the nuns longer because she wanted to see more of Denver. She wouldn't even come to the station to see her baby off. When Ida returned home, things were in shambles. Her father was drinking, and her mother was not getting any better. Pauline had moved out and was living with friends. We find out that Father Hurlburt is part Indian. Ida had a hard time at home. She struggled to take care of Christine and her mother. Annie never forgave her daughter for taking Clara's child. She had Christine call her Aunt Ida. This was a way too keep from growing too attached to Christine, because she was afraid that one day Clara would show up and want her back. Most people kept away from Ida, not wanting to have her influence on them or their children. The boys she once knew all went off to war, and even her own sister avoided her. The only friend she had was Father Hurlburt, and she was afraid to count on him. She knew that when she came to expect him, he would stop coming. One day he came on Wednesday instead of Thursday. He couldn't come Thursday, and Ida was disappointed, although she didn't show it. She said it didn't matter, and Father Hurlburt replied that it did matter to him. Ida was happy to know that he came because he wanted to and not out of obligation. She invited him in for tea. Clara returned 4 years later, asking about Christine and Lecon. Clara walked in and woke up Christine; she told her that her mother had come for her at last. Clara told Christine to call her mother, and thinking of it as just another name, Christine did. Christine was fascinated by Clara, and clung to her. Clara and Lecon avoided each other when Lecon finally came home. We are introduced to the family Pauline is staying with, the Cree's. Pauline and Dale were close, and they would marry. Clara eventually told everyone about she had been doing with herself. How she married and divorced a white man. Clara eventually told Ida why she was really there. She wanted Christine. She was going to give her to a nice family who would pay her for the child. Clara reminded her that Christine was her child, and that she could do anything she wanted with her. Ida agreed to let her go, but she had to tell Christine about it in her own time. Father Hurlburt came to Ida's rescue. He told Clara that she had no rights to the baby, and that Ida was listed as the mother on the birth certificate. He told her to leave, and she did.

Chapter 19

Annie passed away and Lecon ran off. Ida had the house to herself, and she began to lease out the land for money and make improvements on the house. Ida found out that William Pretty Dog was home from the war. He looked awful. He had tripped on mine, and he was seriously injured. Father Hurlburt told Ida that she could probably help him, that he was bitter and needed her strength. Ida agreed to see him. William didn't want anyone to see him, and Father Hurlburt couldn't convince him to get out of the car and come inside. Ida came out, and told him she'd made soup, and that he should come in and eat. She pulled him from the car, and he followed her inside. William stayed with Ida. Over time, he became used to her and Christine, and they all got along well. William's mother was upset that her son was staying with Ida, and so Ida invited her over for dinner. She and William made it clear that they were staying together. William went to have more surgery the next day that would restore most of his looks. He would have to stay in the hospital until he was better though. While William was in the hospital Ida got word that her father was dead. She was relieved that he was gone. Ida also found that she was pregnant. She was happy and was going to tell William when she saw him at the hospital, either to make him feel better if things were bad, or to add to his good fortune. William was handsome after his surgery, and his mother was rude and said that he should come home now that he could get someone better than Ida. William defended Ida, but in doing so also insulted her. Ida didn't tell him she was pregnant, and just told him that he should leave. She lied and said that her father was coming home and there wouldn't be room for him. When people found out she was pregnant, she told them it wasn't William's. She never even told her sister who the father was. Ida tried her best for Christine, and she taught her to read and bought her a TV. Ida no longer pretends to be stupid, so that Christine would see that she could be as good as any man. Christine took having a new brother or sister seriously, and she asked lots of questions. Pauline wanted her to name the child after their father, because it was tradition. When the baby came, it was a beautiful boy. Ida named him Lecon, but said he would go by Lee to be different.

Chapter 20

Ida tells how close Christine and Lee were, and how different they were. Christine did everything for Lee, and she tried to be his mother. When Christine finally had to go to school, she was upset and afraid that Ida wouldn't take good enough care of Lee. As the kids got older, they asked questions about which their father was. They took it for granted that they came from the same place. Ida never talked about Clara to Christine, and it seemed Christine didn't remember her. Ida received letters from Clara, but she never responded. She was wanted to send her pictures, to show her what she had missed, but Ida was afraid that Clara would come back and she couldn't beat her again. Both children excelled in everything. Christine worked hard to impress everyone, and she was loyal only to Lee. She showed more piety than was ever required, and all her teachers loved her. Ida heard of the daring things Christine did, and she asked only that Lee not imitate her. One day, Lee and Christine came home. Christine locked herself in her room, and Lee had sureness about himself. Ida asked what had happened, but Lee only said that Christine was scared, and that he had saved her. From then on, Lee was confident in himself. Lee became daring and took risks that he shouldn't. Christine became afraid of everything. Ida was concerned and asked Father Hurlburt if he knew what could be wrong. He told her that it was probably a letter that Christine's teacher, an over zealous nun, had been teaching them about. Ida confronted Christine about the letter, and while she didn't understand it, she tried to help Christine through it all. When the day finally came for the end of the world, she let Christine perm her hair. Lee teased Christine, and Ida made him go to bed for hurting her. When Father Hurlburt came to see how the night turned out, she took him up on the roof. They sat there and she braided her hair.