Gloria and Mrs. Lawson work as cleaners for Mrs. Goldstein's house. Mrs. Lawson is an older Black lady who would usually be considered too old to work, but works anyway. She often remembers her ex-husbands and their wrong doings to her, and an event with her last husband that had really harmed her. Mrs. Lawson worries that even though Mrs. Goldstein is kind, she would fire her for being too elderly and slow. Gloria is a petit young white girl who seems too young to be working as a cleaning lady, but nevertheless does a good job. Gloria is currently tormented by the idea of having to go to the doctor to ask about a mysterious lump on her leg. She fears what it might be, and what it might do to her to change her young life- if it's amputated she would be crippled, ugly, and unloved. Gloria makes a trip to see her sister in Fairbanks, Alaska. She goes on a nature tour, and when she comes back she is incredibly happy. She recounts to Mrs. Lawson as she gets back to work that she saw lots of animals and enjoyed her time. But she also read in the news that the nature tour bus that she had just been taking had toppled off of a mountain a few days after she had left. Not only that, but her lump was gone. She felt as though her lease on life was renewed. Mrs. Lawson however reflects on how just because you avoided one terrible thing, does not mean you won't experience more unavoidable terrible things. She thinks of her current husband and how he could also some day become wild and evil and hurt her like her past husbands did.