Lulu has lost trust in herself. As Henry drives her to the sanatorium, she tells him that Gary is lying. However, when Lulu explains that she saw Bitsy’s discharge paper from the lobotomy, Henry asks if this was when she broke into the Betsers’ home. He points out that she was sure she saw Esther too. Lulu knows that anything else she says will only confirm Henry’s image of her as “hysterical.” She tries to figure out where her reality began to deviate from everyone else’s. They arrive at the sanatorium. Lulu once visited Georgie there; years ago, it was a polio hospital. Henry says that he’ll be back soon and implores Lulu to remember. Lulu knows she needs to act docile so that they don’t lobotomize her.

On her first morning in the sanatorium, a nurse tells Lulu to take a shower, and she watches while Lulu does so. Next, the nurse takes her to the cafeteria for an inedible breakfast. Lulu is appalled by the sight of patients who no longer look or act human. When the nurse retrieves Lulu for a doctor’s appointment, she slips another patient a lollipop, telling the woman not to mention it to the doctor. When Lulu asks the nurse about the woman, the nurse says that she’s much better now, post-lobotomy. Lulu points out that the woman doesn’t have any scars, but the nurse explains that there are none when they do the procedure by going through the eye socket. The nurse assures Lulu that when the procedure “works,” one would never know the person had it done.

Lulu meets Dr. Ruthledge. He’s already spoken with Henry, which makes her feel like a child. The doctor wants Lulu to say explicitly why Henry brought her here, but she struggles to put Esther’s death into words. She can tell that the doctor doesn’t care how much it hurts her to say it. When she does admit that Esther is dead, Lulu represses her emotions, fearful that it will hurt her prognosis. She “play[s] at being the good girl” while the doctor explains that grief is especially hard for mothers (242). When she tells him she doesn’t want a lobotomy, he says that they don’t need to discuss specifics right now.

That night, Lulu pulls apart Esther’s pink blanket in a tranquilized haze. She remembers when she was 10 and one of her kittens found a rabbit’s nest and injured one of the baby rabbits. Her father sighed and promised her that he would find the bunny a new home. At the time, Lulu believed him, but now she realizes that the bunny died despite her best effort and love, just like Esther. The more she feels the blanket’s fabric, the more she remembers. She does not rest.

Lulu recalls that her labor with Esther was more intense than with Wesley. Then, it slowed and stalled. They gave her drugs so that she could rest until the doctor suddenly commanded her to push. A nurse reassured her. However, after the birth, the doctor said that Esther didn’t make it because the umbilical cord was wrapped around her body. Lulu struggled to understand, and Henry took her home two days later.

A week after arriving at the sanatorium, Lulu gets a mask-like rash across her cheeks. She’s on a regimen of tranquilizers that almost prevents her from recognizing Henry when he arrives for an appointment with her and the doctor. Lulu decides to be complacent to convince them to let her go home. Dr. Ruthledge knows that she hasn’t been eating much; he and Henry have been talking about next steps. He recommends electroconvulsive therapy. When Lulu refuses, the doctor ignores her and continues talking. She refuses again, to which Henry says that it seems to be their best option. Lulu says that Gary probably said the same thing.

Orderlies come to take Lulu for electroconvulsive therapy the next morning. She’s reminded of a time when she took Wesley to the doctor for a shot. He screamed and thrashed, and she told herself it was for his own good. Now, she feels just like he did then. She doesn’t trust the nurse who tells her it’ll be okay. Lulu thinks of Bitsy, trying to reassure herself that she is different from her neighbor. The doctor places a rubber bit into her mouth, and she tries to think of pleasant things before the jolt moves through her body.

The next morning, Lulu feels foggy. She remembers the silence in the delivery room. She does not want to be shocked again.

A few days later, Nora visits. When Lulu wakes up, she finds her friend stitching Esther’s baby blanket back together. Lulu asks about Wesley, who is fine. Nora apologizes that she didn’t realize that Lulu wasn’t well. Lulu asks Nora to help her remember whether Lulu overstepped with Katherine. Nora isn’t sure; she only knows that Bitsy was upset and that she keeps a close eye on the girl. Bitsy told Nora that Katherine really is her niece, the daughter of her sister, Ellen. Bitsy also admitted that she had a lobotomy after Ellen died. Gary sent the boys away to school and then got Bitsy the operation. Nora tells Lulu to save herself.

The next day, Lulu showers, eats, and puts on her nicest dress but doesn’t take her medications. She meets Henry outside the doctor’s office, and he says she looks good. He left a drawing that Wesley made her in the car, so she suggests that they take a walk after the appointment to get it. She assures Henry that she’s feeling much better and asks him to take her home, but he says they need to talk to the doctor.

Since shock therapy was a “success,” Dr. Ruthledge prescribes five to 10 more sessions. Lulu is certain that he originally prescribed only one session, but he denies this. She asks Henry to take her home again, but he answers that this is “for [her] own good” (274). Hoping that Henry tucked the car keys into the visor as he usually does, Lulu asks to use the restroom. Ruthledge allows it so that he and Henry can talk some more. Lulu rushes to grab Esther’s blanket, runs outside to the car, finds the keys, and drives away.

Lulu drives to her childhood home, aware that neither it nor she is the same anymore. Georgie greets her at the door, and she bursts into tears. He and their mother both call her by her real name, Lucy. When her mother sees the rash on Lulu’s cheeks, she gasps and says that it looks just like her father’s. She asks if the doctors have seen the rash and if they know about her exhaustion and sore arms, legs, and hands. Her mother tells Lulu that she’s not experiencing mental illness but lupus.

Lulu only knew that her father had some kind of disease that caused him to have good and bad days. Her mother makes her eat. Lulu finds a picture of Henry, Wesley, and herself heavily pregnant from Wesley’s birthday party; she’s relieved to have proof that Esther did, in fact, exist. Her mother says that Henry brought it over—it was the only picture to survive the roll that Wesley exposed. Her mother calls Henry but demands that Lulu stay the night. She adds that since the doctor didn’t diagnose her lupus, she won’t allow Lulu to return to the sanatorium.

Awake in the middle of the night, Lulu realizes that the cries she thought were Esther’s were really those of screech owls. In the dark early morning, she wraps herself in a blanket and goes outside to sit under her favorite tree. She feels like herself again in the dormiveglia hours, though she believes that no one else will understand, especially Henry.

Around sunrise, Henry finds her. He tells her how worried he was, and she wonders if things would have been different if she’d spoken up for herself more often. She tells Henry that she’s not going back; she refuses to be silent or complacent any longer. Henry finally notices her rash, and this seems to convince him that she shouldn’t have to. He apologizes and says that he knows he’s partly to blame. He could have been more attentive; he only saw her symptoms once her mother pointed them out. Lulu again points out that Gary lied, and Henry tells her that the Betsers are moving away. Henry got the promotion; she congratulates him. When Henry asks what Lulu wants, she answers that she wants Esther. As they cry, Lulu realizes that they’ve never talked about what happened to Esther at all. Finally, she asks Henry to take her home.

Lulu’s mother calls Lulu’s illness “the wolf” since “lupus” is the Latin word for “wolf.” Lulu and Henry adjust to her condition; she stops taking tranquilizers and gets cortisone shots instead. A few months later, as they host their annual New Year’s Eve party, Lulu lets other wives help with food preparation. She gets a new camera, the good one she’s wanted, and takes pictures of Esther’s nursery, Wesley, and the party. She still hears Esther at night, but she doesn’t feel haunted like before. Instead, she embraces the dormiveglia hours. She chooses to let go and also to remember.