Taylor and Lou Ann talk freely to each other. Sitting in Roosevelt Park (also known humorously as Dog Doo Park) under the arbor of wisteria vines, they discuss the upcoming marriage of Taylor's mother. Taylor can't imagine her mother getting married. Once again, Kingsolver portrays certain feminist views regarding men as Lou Ann comments that Taylor characterizes men as "hangnail[s]." Taylor denies Lou Ann's accusations and admits to liking Estevan. Lou Ann talks about Angel and admits that she'd go back to him if he asked her. Ironically, Angel does show up, but rather than ask for a reconciliation, he asks for a divorce. As Taylor and Lou Ann sit in the park, a child peddles by on a tricycle. Here, Kingsolver suggests future events as the child tells the two women to beware of "the bums" and "go straight home."
In these two chapters, Kingsolver once again uses her background in natural history to create poetic images. For example, the miracle of Dog Doo Park is "a purplish lip of petal stuck out like a pout from a fat green bud" — the beautiful flowers that sprout from the wisteria vines out of bare dirt. At the hideaway in the desert, white rocks protrude from the water's surface like "giant, friendly hippo butts," and cottonwood trees "cooled their heels" in the water.
