Chapter 24 Summary: Two Places at Once
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The chapter opens with Viv examining a new patient, Earlene Jackson, at Dr. Fran's practice. Viv is pressed for time—she promised her eldest daughter, Andrea, she'd be home by four so Andrea can get ready for a party. During the exam, Viv discovers Earlene is also a nurse who served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II. Earlene shares that she was one of only forty-eight Negro nurses initially accepted into the corps, serving in segregated wards at Camp Livingston and Fort Bragg rather than overseas. She recounts how thousands of qualified Black nurses applied after D-Day but were turned down, and how the army threatened to draft white nurses while sitting on applications from nine thousand willing Black nurses. Earlene tells Viv she plans to volunteer at the upcoming March on Washington, where Dr. King will speak.
The two women bond over their shared profession and the impossibility of being in two places at once—Viv with six children and a seventh on the way, Earlene as a widowed mother who had to work. Viv leaves at three minutes to three, later than planned, and gets caught in a massive traffic jam at the Key Bridge, delaying her return home.
Meanwhile, at the stables, Bitsy meets Alice Brennan, a veterinary professor from UC Davis who is a friend of Mrs. Graham. Alice, impressed by Bitsy's work with Delilah, encourages her to finish her final semester of college and apply to veterinary school, offering to write a recommendation. Bitsy is moved but reveals she is pregnant, explaining that her husband's practice and their plans for a family make the dream impossible. She accepts Alice's business card but clearly considers the door closed.
Viv finally arrives home at 4:25 to find her five-year-old daughter Jennifer on the roof, threatening to jump. Jennifer, wearing a towel like a cape, insists she can fly. After the boys taunt her and attempts to retrieve her fail, Viv makes a deal: Jennifer can