At the all-night vigil for the new Pearls, Nicole has no idea how to behave. A new Pearl from New Mexico starts crying and yelling, so two Aunts hustle her out of the room. Nicole learns later that they made that girl a Handmaid, so she thinks it was good that she kept quiet.

The next day, Nicole gets an ugly brown dress and goes with the other Pearls to a stadium. She is shocked when she realizes they are having a Particicution, which she had read about in school but without much detail. Nicole understands why when she witnesses two men torn apart by a frenzied group of women. Nicole wonders if her own mother had been a feral Handmaid like these women.

Agnes and Becka try to help Nicole/Jade as Aunt Lydia had asked them, but it is difficult. Jade doesn’t know how to sit properly and complains about the food in the dining hall. Agnes and Becka caution her that people are watching.

Nicole knows that the two young Aunts do not approve of her, but she has no one else to talk to. She tries not to let her fear and loneliness get the better of her.