The Crash

Polly’s mother died from battling aggressive breast cancer. Polly misses her terribly but senses her spirit’s presence in the basement. Polly receives a call from Angela, another nurse at Roosevelt Memorial hospital who was her close friend for 13 years. Angela tells Polly that she is pregnant, and the news comes as a blow to Polly. It hurts her every time another friend conceives. She feigns excitement and congratulates Angela, but afterward, she blocks Angela’s phone number and doesn’t plan to speak to her again.

Shortly after, Mitch comes over, drunk and furious. He shouts at Polly to stay away from Sadie, saying that she’s the last person he wants around his kid because she “went to the crazy house two years ago” (118). He says that he’s going to teach her a lesson as he grabs her wrist.

Before Mitch can hurt Polly, Hank shows up. He warns Mitch, who’s clearly afraid of him, to stay away from his house and his wife. Polly is relieved, but she worries that Mitch will take his anger out on Sadie instead. Hank insists that Polly stop interacting with Sadie, and seeing that he’s scared for her safety, Polly agrees. She thinks about what a good father Hank would be and blames herself for the fact that he won’t get to experience fatherhood.

After the incident with Mitch, Hank goes back to work at the auto shop for a few hours. He comes home during the blizzard with the injured Tegan. Polly tells him that the phone and power are out and that there’s no cell service. Hank explains to Polly that Tegan seems to be afraid of him. Polly is filled with envy when she realizes that Tegan is pregnant.

Polly’s mother knew about Polly’s infertility problems but believed that her daughter would eventually have children. Polly remembers what her mother told her shortly before her death: “Someday, your family will be complete” (128). When Tegan asks for pain medication, Polly thinks about the prescription pills left over from her mother’s illness and how she once thought about using them to kill a woman whose life had fallen apart.

Polly looks through Tegan’s purse before bringing it to her. It reeks of whiskey from the spilled flask inside. That, along with the lighter also in Tegan’s purse and her request for pain pills, leads Polly to think that she’s drinking, using drugs, and smoking while pregnant. Polly believes that Tegan is untrustworthy, and she doesn’t want the girl to have a weapon she can use against them, so she takes Tegan’s pepper spray. She takes Tegan’s cell phone too, though she isn’t sure why.

More details emerge about Hank and Polly’s efforts to have children. They tried for eight years, spent all their money on three unsuccessful in vitro fertilization cycles, and had an adoption fall through at the last minute. Hank worries about Polly being around pregnant women and the effect it will have on her. Polly feels like ever since “The Incident,” Hank has seen her as fragile and expects her to “crack” again.

The pills that Polly offers Tegan are just Benadryl, not Dilaudid as she claims. She’s relieved when Tegan decides not to take them after all.

After the failed adoption, Polly had depression. Still, she thought she could handle it when she was assigned an overnight shift in the hospital nursery. Instead, she did something that got her fired and could have sent her to prison. As a result, she and Hank were removed from adoption eligibility lists. On the first night of Tegan’s stay, Polly decides that she and Hank will have a child very soon.

The phone lines are still down the next morning, but Hank tells Polly that he can drive Tegan to the hospital using the snowplow attachment for his truck. Polly lies to him, saying that Tegan is in too much pain for them to move her and wants to wait. Hank accepts this development, but Polly expects that he won’t be okay with the fact that Tegan is still there by that night. Polly feels sure that Hank will do whatever she tells him to do, though, because he doesn’t have a choice.

Polly adds crushed Benadryl to Tegan’s lunch, causing her to sleep all afternoon. She admits to herself that she has no intention of ever taking Tegan to the hospital. From the window, Polly can see Sadie’s house and notices that Mitch isn’t home. She assumes that Sadie’s school is closed due to the snow, so Sadie will be at home. Worried that the girl will go hungry, Polly brings her a sandwich and cookies. Sadie says that she isn’t allowed to let Polly in, so Polly leaves the food on the porch for her.

When Hank comes home that night, Polly lies and says that the paramedics picked Tegan up. Once he’s showered and is eating dinner, she tells him that Tegan’s actually still there. She insists that Tegan is better off recovering where she is than going to the hospital because her ankle isn’t broken, only slightly sprained, and she doesn’t have insurance. Despite her justifications, Hank disagrees. He begins to call for paramedics, but Polly yanks the phone cord out of the wall and breaks the phone. Hank says that he’ll just call from his cell phone. He adds that afterward, they should call Dr. Salinsky, whom Polly refers to as her “former shrink.” Polly threatens that if he does, she’ll call the police and tell them what he did.

Hank’s response doesn’t reveal what he did, only that it was Polly’s idea, but that he’d probably go back to prison anyway. He once served two months for assault after punching a man who was inappropriate with Polly and vowed never to go back. Polly makes a deal with Hank to let Tegan stay three more days. She says that if Tegan wants to leave before then, they’ll let her. Hank gives in but says that three days is a firm limit. Polly feels sure that she’ll get him to change his mind by then. After all, she’ll still have the same leverage she’s using against him now.