Here in the Real World

Ware and Jolene often enjoy swimming in the pool, and Ware continues to hope he will end up reborn. He creates a coat of arms for himself with a lizard and a movie camera on it, and this inspires Jolene to make one of her own, which has a papaya plant and a pair of arms holding a rake and shovel. When the rain starts, they go under the table again, and Ware tells Jolene he wants to know why she lives with her aunt. Jolene explains that when she was five, her mother moved away and left her with her aunt with little explanation. Walter, the bartender, heard the whole thing. Ware thinks about holding Jolene’s hand again, but before he works up the nerve to do it, the rain stops.

Ware thinks about what Jolene said about reality and feels like the way he perceives the world is never as clear as it is for her. He looks down at his legs and notices they’ve become muscular, and the baby fat in his stomach is gone. This makes Ware feel proud and encouraged by the fact that at least some part of him is changing.