Chrissy is always in charge: she has reign over the bedroom, bathroom, and television. Anh and Bich look up to her. One day, they join her and her friends in trampling the gardens of their neighbors. Chrissy snaps off some rhubarb in one of the gardens, pulls out a bag of sugar, and they sit around to eat it. Bich doesn’t like the bitterness or the texture. Later, Chrissy shows them how to ball up bread in their hands and eat it with honey, but Bich doesn’t like that either and refuses.

That summer, Rosa is finishing her master's degree in education at Grand Valley State and takes the children with her to campus. They're each given $2 to spend at the University Bookstore, and Bich selects a blue covered notepad, a red pen, and M&Ms. Chrissy picks up a copy of Playgirl, and Bich sees her first naked man. An employee sees them, and the shared moment between the sisters is lost.

That fall, Chris's father reappears, a white man whom Rosa had dated “just long enough to get pregnant” (137). Like Bich’s mother, they had never really spoken of his existence.