Still immured in shifting phantasms of the familiar and reassuring past, Offred sees herself as a mother with her child and also as a child with her mother. To compose her muddled brain, Offred recites litanies, mental gymnastics that exercise her numbed thinking processes. As she ponders the second of the two eggs that she is served for breakfast, she responds instantly to the arrival of the red Birthmobile, the Handmaids' transportation to the birthing chamber of Ofwarren. By separate conveyance, Wives arrive to attend the Commander's Wife, who lies in a downstairs room while Ofwarren and her attendants occupy the master bedroom.
Offred recalls indoctrination sessions with Aunt Lydia and conflicting memories of Offred's mother, an aggressive feminist who supported abortion rights. The primitive tableau of a birthing scene advances from contractions to transition as the baby descends to the birth canal. At the crucial moment, Ofwarren climbs onto the Birthing Stool, a two-seater that accommodates the Commander's Wife behind her. A girl-baby emerges and is quickly washed and passed to the surrogate mother, who names the child Angela.
