Mairin is introduced to the laundry. She is given the name “Ruth” and told not to speak. She meets a Black girl, Odessa, and a blonde, white girl, Angela. They work with the calendar, a large roller that presses cloth. When Mairin learns that they will work all day and not go to school, she asks why no one reports the nuns to the authorities. Angela answers that the authorities believe the Church can do no wrong. Mairin meets Denise, who is a bully and says Odessa is a criminal because the courts sent her to the institution after she was arrested at a protest. Angela praises Odessa’s singing voice.

Mairin sees some pregnant girls working in the laundry and is told they will be sent to St. Francis hospital to give birth, and their babies will be placed for adoption. Mairin meets Helen Wei, Janice, and Kay. Helen warns that Janice is a snitch and suggests that Kay has been affected by fetal alcohol syndrome. Helen is Chinese, and her parents have been detained in China. Mairin admits that she was sent there because her stepfather attacked her. The girls are scolded for talking, and Mairin is warned about the closet where girls are locked as punishment.

Mairin sees a truck pull up to be loaded with clean laundry. Mairin leaps into the truck and hides herself. The truck goes only a short distance when it stops. The driver finds Mairin and returns her to the nuns. One nun strikes Mairin and informs her that all the girls in the calendar room were punished because of Mairin’s infraction, and all of them will be given bread and water for their dinner.

Sister Bernadette feels blessed to be part of the Good Shepherd. Her birth name was Genesee, and she grew up in the Tenderloin area in a poor and unstable home with a mother who used alcohol frequently and performed sex work. The Catholic Charities offered to take Genesee, and her mother signed the paperwork gladly. Genesee was grateful to be taken to the Home: “She craved the cleanliness and order of the place, the strict discipline and constant reminders that the way to salvation was through hard work and penitence. At the Good Shepherd, Genesee found the things in life she’d never had—an orderly world, a community, an identity, a sacred purpose” (92). When her talent for bookkeeping was discovered, she was set to work in the office. Part of her duties are to keep a separate account for cash transactions, and to store the cash payments under the reliquary dedicated to Saint Apollonia. Bernadette doesn’t understand the girls who resist being in this place, thinking they are lucky to be given this chance to redeem themselves.

Bernadette is instructed to take her supper to Mairin, who is locked in the closet. Bernadette recalls that it took her a while, too, to learn obedience and compliance. Bernadette allows Mairin into the office to eat, and Mairin switches on the radio. Bernadette feels a thrill at the sound of the music. Mairin asks about Bernadette’s life before she came to this place, and Bernadette says that girl has ceased to exist. Mairin responds, “Well, I’m not going to cease to exist just because I’m forced to be here” (99). Bernadette hopes that Mairin will find peace through obedience and submission, as Bernadette has done, and reminds her that the real monsters are outside.

Angela recalls how she, too, once tried to escape the Home by climbing the wall. She admires how Mairin has become a natural leader among the girls, who all sleep in the same dormitory. Feeling nauseated, Angela runs to the bathroom and throws up. She was sent to the Home by her Gran, who believes Angela needs redemption because she is attracted to girls.

Angela found a caring mentor in Miss Rachel Adler, who worked at the library and who gave Angela books like Beebo Brinker, which broadened Angela’s understanding of the world. Miss Adler had been imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp and had once displayed the tattoo on her arm. When Gran caught Angela with her friend Tanya McDowd, Gran sent Angela to the Home. Angela is forced “to have these horrible special corrective sessions with the doctor” (102) and do extra penance. 

Mairin comes into the bathroom and they talk. Mairin shares about her background, and Angela reveals that she was raped by Dr. Gilroy. Mairin tells Angela about her friend Fiona and suggests that Angela might be pregnant.

Mairin writes a letter to Liam telling him how horrible the Good Shepherd is. She says there are over a hundred girls. The food is tasteless, they are trying to erase her identity, and she has to work all day at the laundry. She tells him, “they’re hurting the girls they’re supposed to be helping” (113). She describes the other girls and the punishments Mairin is given when she breaks a rule.

One night, Mairin sees Kay feeding breadcrumbs to a mouse. Denise wakes Mairin up and shows her that her letter to Liam has been censored by the nuns. Mairin is slowly making friends with the other girls. Angela told the nuns what the doctor did, and they accused her of sneaking around with a boy and getting pregnant. When Angela is told she must see the doctor, Mairin insists on going with her. Mairin steals a pair of scissors and prevents Gilroy from examining Angela. Angela is upset at the thought that she will be made to give away her baby.

Denise warns Mairin about the other girls, and they are punished for talking. A nun pulls Kay’s hair, hurting her. The nuns think Kay stole the scissors and, as punishment, they cut off Kay’s hair. That night, a nun finds Kay’s mouse and kills it. 

Mairin suggests that all the girls cut their hair. They gather in the bathroom and talk about the reasons they all ended up at the Home. Denise hints that she was sexually abused by a priest. They all look awful, but Denise points out the nuns can’t punish them by pulling their hair any longer.