The Good Sister

When Fern gets home, she tells Wally about the nice visit with her mother. Wally’s idea for a new app—FollowUp—is raising interest among investors. The app aims to send customized responses for one’s social engagements and invites. Fern thinks this is a genius idea. She often has to consult Rose to frame socially adequate emails; such an app would save her a lot of trouble. Wally spends the night at Ferns place.

The next morning, Fern is surprised by Rose dropping in. Rose is back early from her vacation. Fern wants to catch up later as she is getting late for work, but Rose tells Fern she wants “some serious sister time” (124). Wally comes out into the living room and greets Rose, introducing himself by his real name, Rocco Ryan. Rose is shocked Fern would spend the night with a stranger and is cold toward Wally. After Wally leaves, Rose drives Fern to work. Rose has gotten back together with Owen and had a fabulous trip. At the library Fern remembers that Rose never told her why she cut her trip short.

It was difficult for Rose to leave Owen, but she was alarmed when Fern told her about a man dropping her at home. Rose notes that statistically 90% of “all people with intellectual disabilities” (125) are sexually assaulted at least once in their lives. She feels she must protect Fern from such an event. Rose’s fears of assault may be linked to a childhood experience. She recalls Gary, Nina’s boyfriend when the twins were 11 years old. At first, Gary seemed affectionate and physically expressive to Rose. Soon he started touching the girls inappropriately, right in front of Nina. Fern asked him to stop and he did, but Rose could not. Gary’s inappropriate touching of Rose only got worse, with him once pressing up against her in a public pool. Rose felt afraid and alone.

A crisis erupts at the library. A large and angry man, obviously on drugs, brandishes a knife in Carmel’s face, repeatedly asking her for money. As Gayle quietly calls the police, Fern goes up to the man and asks him if he needs any assistance. Her matter-of-fact manner seems to throw off the man, but then he lunges toward her and Carmel. Fern pulls Carmel backwards so she doesn’t get stabbed. She then distracts the man by giving him a book to read. The man calms down and puts his knife away. Police arrive and arrest him. To Fern’s surprise, Carmel hugs her, thanking her for her bravery. Fern grows comfortable with Carmel, and the two have a chat. Carmel tells Fern she is very good at her job and “not to mention beloved in this library” (131). Fern thinks she has never considered herself beloved before.

Rose calls Fern, having googled Wally’s real name. She tells Fern he is a “gazillionaire” (133). Fern already knows Wally is successful and doesn’t think that is the most interesting thing about him.

Wally asks Fern if he can come over for dinner. Since Mondays are her dinner nights with Rose, Fern tells Wally she can’t join him. When Wally insists, she calls Rose to cancel but knows Rose won’t take it well. Rose is deflated at Fern cancelling plans, which annoys Fern for some reason. At dinner, Fern asks Wally why he needs to work after having made a fortune. Wally says work is good for one’s mental health. Fern wholeheartedly agrees, knowing that her job at the library is essential for her well-being. Wally wants to apply for health insurance in Australia and wishes to put down Fern as his emergency contact, his “person” (137), but Fern tells him he needs to know about something terrible she did as a child before he can consider her his person.

After the incident in the swimming pool, Gary’s harassment of Rose intensified. Rose feared bringing this up with Nina since Nina would only hate her for ruining her new relationship. Rose stuck to Fern “like glue” (137) to avoid Gary, but Gary would touch her every time Fern went away or wasn’t paying attention. One night, Nina took Fern to the supermarket, leaving Rose alone with Gary. Gary sexually assaulted Rose. Rose considered herself bad because Gary did bad things to her.

Nina had a couple of boyfriends when Fern and Rose were young. Fern didn’t like Gary, but she liked Daniel. Daniel, his son Billy, Nina, and the twins went for a camping trip so they could bond. Fern had fun playing with Billy and they would often compete with each other. That summer, Fern had learnt how to hold her breath under water for a long time so she could free dive. Billy wanted Fern to teach him but could never beat her time. Fern helped him by holding him under water, and he accidentally drowned. Fern had held him down only for 40 seconds, knowing that a person could drown in 60, but the tragedy still occurred. Rose asked Fern not to tell anyone the truth since it could get her in trouble. The twins said Billy had tangled in the weeds and died. Wally is aghast at the story but doesn’t think Fern should continue to blame herself since this was clearly an accident.

Fern expects Wally to cut her out of his life after her confession, but no such thing happens. Fern and Wally spend most evenings together, except for the nights Fern dines with Rose. Fern begins to dislike her visits with Rose since she feels Rose has taken to interrogating her. Meanwhile, Fern notes her period is late. 

Rose asks Fern to visit an IKEA store with her. Fern finds physical stores overwhelming and prefers to shop online. She still agrees to go with Rose because Rose often gets her things from the supermarket. Fern finds the store “uncomfortably full” (147), and her head begins to spin. Rose shows her bookcases and lamps, so many objects that Fern notes “if I didn’t know better, I’d think my sister was deliberately trying to set off a sensory attack” (147). Fern ends up vomiting in the store. She tells Rose she may be pregnant.

A pregnancy test confirms Fern’s suspicion. Rose asks Fern if she plans to keep the baby. Fern privately notes that though she had wanted to have a baby for Rose, she may now want to keep it. Rose notices her confused expression and tells Fern she is worried about Fern’s suitability as a mother. The only way she could have managed caring for a baby is if her partner was stable, but since Rocco has had a mental breakdown, he too is an unfit parent in Rose’s opinion. Fern regrets having told Rose about Wally’s mental health issues. Fern wants to counter Rose’s argument but has no adequate response. Rose may be right about the whole thing. Rose hugs Fern to comfort her, but Fern feels she is being stifled.