Cutting for Stone

Marion misses Genet—it has been three weeks since she and Rosina left, and no one has heard from them. That year, 1968, has a heavy rain season, and Marion and Shiva are nearly 14. One night, Marion hears music coming from his mother’s old room. He sees a nurse dancing to rock music and recognizes the probationer, who now supervises other nursing students. He has never seen her as anything other than a nurse before. She pulls him into the room, and they dance close together until the announcer comes on the air. The radio station is an American armed forces station, and Marion did not know about it before.

He tells her she is beautiful, and she kisses him. She begins to cry and confesses her guilt about his mother’s death. She asks for his forgiveness, and he gives it, but she keeps crying. She admits that the twins nearly died because she forgot to resuscitate them. She tells him he can do anything he wants to her, but he leaves. When he passes Genet’s room, he decides he will marry Genet. He revels in the new idea, letting go of the probationer’s confessions, as well as his hope that his father will return.