On Such A Full Sea

The girls who surround Fan are not as threatening as they first appear, and are actually quite kind. Miss Cathy does not like sleeping alone in her room, and thus Fan takes a shift sleeping next to her in the little bed. It is cold and scary that first night, and Fan waits to see what perversity might happen to her next. Cathy wakes her gently at one point in the night, and to her surprise, simply switches places with Fan, taking the tiny bed for herself.

Fan discovers much by talking with the other girls. Each girl takes a shift sleeping next to Miss Cathy in this way; usually, she swaps beds with the girl in the middle of the night. Also, their eyes have indeed been modified, but it is not a mandatory modification. It is simply that the first two girls wanted to look more like anime characters, and had the procedure done, and then each subsequent girl, three through seven, wanted a similar treatment. Fan is number eight, and is immediately well-liked by the girls, her life fascinating to them.

There is a mural on one wall, showing the shared history of the girls and this room, with numerous drawings of all the girls and the other characters in the house. Miss Cathy has provided them dozens of markers in all colors, thicknesses and styles in order to create their wall of art. Girls one and two began the project, and now number six, who is an excellent artist, draws many of the outlines, which the girls color. Six draws a new piece, commemorating the addition of Fan to their group, and sketches out an underwater scene of a garden featuring fabulous creatures. Six says she looked at Fan and thought of the sea.

Fan is in much better shape than the other girls, who are somewhat deficient of Vitamin D, fresh air, and real exercise. She quickly becomes the leader of their exercise period, pushing them to be healthier, and she also notices that her own body is doing extraordinarily well, surmising that her pregnancy might be a factor. The other girls almost immediately start to become stronger, healthier, and more vibrant. Even the mural work moves faster. Fan wonders why none of the girls have tried to escape and why none seem to blame Miss Cathy for standing by while Mister Leo had his turn with each of them, but then realizes that they see Miss Cathy as their “wounded and vulnerable big sister” (256). Miss Cathy had been stuck in misery herself, and had similar horrible things happen to her in days past.

The girls push Fan to tell them what will happen to her, almost as though she is a character in a story she herself is making up. She tells them about how she left B-Mor in search of Reg, and when the girls draw him, they talk about how cute and sweet he must be. She tells them about her search for Bo Liwei and they are astounded, and immediately begin to strategize about what she must do to fulfill her quest. They decide they will help Fan, and that she must leave as soon as possible, for there is no more time to waste.

Many things about B-Mor society have changed since Fan left. The narrator points to comments on web boards, people acting out at the ponds, the abuse of people like Gordon, but most notably, a new form of strange behavior leading citizens to shave their heads bald. The people who have done so seem to have a certain “hardness, a blocking, this clear sense that they can no longer share” (265). The narrator is quick to shoot down the idea that these people have suddenly become individualistic, since the whole fabric of their working-class society is so tied into community, but for now, they wait and wonder about the changes to come.

The girls want to help Fan escape and find Reg. Six wakes up one morning long before the rest and draws a new picture on the wall, this one three times as large as the normal pictures. It shows seven underwater plants pushing Fan up toward the surface of a lake, where a pair of hands, belonging to Reg, waits to grasp her. They decide to make a formal request of Miss Cathy to allow Fan to leave, but when three tries it, Miss Cathy reacts angrily, declaring that none of them need sleep next to her for an entire week. This causes a panic, because it’s so unlike Miss Cathy to do this, and the girls have become used to the nighttime routine.

Six and seven then plan to eat some moldy rice cakes to induce illness, but this only leads to them vomiting a little, and an afternoon of diarrhea. Four and five try a similar plan, this time using a can of bad beans. So powerful is their desire to help Fan that they force themselves to eat the toxic beans, making a spicy dish to cover the taste of the poisonous food. The next morning, they become very ill, and the girls pound on the door, trying to summon Miss Cathy. Instead, Mala shows up and examines the girls. They are sick enough that she is concerned and calls a doctor.

When Dr. Upendra arrives, he takes in the scene, noting that the girls are kept as pets. He looks over the mural, studying their history, and takes special note of Fan, who seems to be different from the rest. The Doctor examines four and five, and determines that they are suffering from botulism. He tells Miss Cathy that they cannot be treated at the house, and must be taken to a medical facility, or they might die. Miss Cathy refuses, ignoring the doctor’s information and Mala’s pleadings. She takes the girls to her bathroom for some makeup and hair time, leaving Fan to watch four and five. Before he leaves, Dr. Upendra takes Fan aside and asks her if she knows that she is free to leave, and doesn’t have to stay here if she is not Miss Cathy’s to keep. Fan nods, but internally has decided that she must endure for the time being.

The graffiti that had begun to appear since Reg’s disappearance and Fan’s retreat has increased in frequency, and now takes the form of a stenciled, two-word phrase: FREE REG. Vandalism, protest, and discontent are rising in B-Mor. The citizens of the settlements have always spent their days in pursuit of work, but now they talk of worry and the dwindling demand for their goods.

Fan is watching four and five, who have become sicker still. Five can no longer speak and is barely breathing. Four is on her way toward the same condition, so Fan tries to figure out a way to get out of the room, which is always kept locked by Miss Cathy. She bangs on the door but gets no reply, so she starts a small fire in a soup bowl and sends it down the dumbwaiter. Mala quickly finds the flaming message down in her kitchen, and comes running upstairs to check on Fan. She tells Fan that she’s sorry, that she knew Fan was different, and that she should have done something. Although Fan understands, telling Mala she will stay, Mala leaves the door ajar just in case Fan changes her mind. Fan knows that she cannot leave until she has helped as many of the girls as she can, especially four and five, who are in desperate need of medical attention.

Fan joins Miss Cathy and the girls in the bathroom, and although everyone is surprised that she somehow got out of their chambers and into the bathroom on her own, nobody mentions it. Fan sits down among the girls and selects a bottle of polish, making small talk and painting two’s toes. Miss Cathy decides that she will be the one to paint Fan’s toes, and takes a special interest in her. Fan thinks that perhaps she should have tried to trap them in this room, or done something more extreme, instead of trying to delay them by playing along, but now she’s stuck here for the duration of these activities.

Miss Cathy sends the girls out to go and check on four and five, but asks Fan to stay. As Miss Cathy brushes Fan’s hair, they talk about when Cathy was a girl, and how she liked to run free and see how far she could get. Miss Cathy admits that she sees a lot of herself in Fan: not the person she is now, but the person she once was, taking a wistful tone. Miss Cathy expresses a deep sadness that she can no longer see herself as she was, back then. Fan disagrees: “But you can…you can see it” (289). Fan clasps Miss Cathy’s hands, which had been resting on her shoulders. Miss Cathy panics at being touched and begins to hit Fan, to try to shake her off, but Fan holds on tight, closing her eyes and telling Miss Cathy to do the same. Finally, Miss Cathy relents and Fan begins to tell her what to imagine, taking her on a mental journey.

A commotion in the next room leads them to step out of the bathroom, and both the door to the girl’s chamber and the main doors are flung open, as if the girls have fled. Instead, there are many people in the chamber: the girls, Mala, Tico, a pair of EMTs, and Dr. Upendra. Five is in distress, and the Doctor drops to her side, listening to the girl’s chest, then immediately begins to perform CPR. Five is in dire condition, with Fan noting that “[h]er pupils stretched wide, space black, the whole of her looking as if every drop of her blood were turning to plainest paint” (291).