Absolution

Part 2 consists of Rainey’s response to Tricia. Now a retired, well-off woman with several adult children, Rainey lives in Maryland with her husband Doug. Charlene has been dead for over 20 years.

While renovating a beachside property for their retirement, Rainey meets Dom, now an elderly man himself. She watches Dom playing in the yard with his son Jamie, who has Down syndrome. Rainey is charmed by Dom’s handsome appearance and gentle demeanor with Jamie. When Rainey and Doug return to the property the following month, they attend a party in Dom’s yard, where Rainey meets his other four children and his wife Ellen. Jamie takes a liking to Rainey, and the two form a friendship. Later, Rainey and Doug discuss whether Dom and Ellen are disappointed by Jamie’s condition. Rainey wonders if they feel like “Mother Nature [has] failed them” (244).

During their next visit, Dom invites Rainey inside. He has a Saigon Barbie encased in plexiglass propped on a shelf. Rainey and Dom recognize one another, and they reminisce on Charlene. Rainey’s memories of Saigon are vague, most of them anchored by vignettes of her mother.