Harmonious Space
- Taylor picks up the narrative again. Spoiler alert: the novel sticks with it from here on out.
- Taylor describes her room at the Republic Hotel, which is so close to the local railroad track that the sound of the train wakes her up every morning at 6:15. At least she can save money on an alarm clock.
- She also explains that she and Turtle are now "in trouble" (5.5). Taylor did get a job at the Burger Derby, but it didn't last. All those burger breakfasts take a toll when you're an employee. Long story short: she better find work and permanent living arrangements, and soon.
- Since she doesn't want to eat at the Burger Derby anymore, Taylor starts frequenting local coffee shops instead. On the plus side, other patrons leave their newspapers lying on the tables when they go, so Taylor can pick those up free of charge to search the Want Ads for places to live.
- After a few days, Taylor has a short list of places to check out. So that's a super easy process, right?
- The first is a room in "a big old ramshackle house with about twelve kinds of wind chimes hanging on the front porch" (5.23). The people she meets there are unlike anyone else she has ever known. In other words, pretentious and strange.
- The second place that Taylor checks out is a room in Lou Ann Ruiz's home. We knew it was only a matter of time.
- Lou Ann and Taylor hit it off right away, which is probably more surprising to them than to us. Soon the two young women are laughing and chatting like old friends.
- In no time, they make it official: Taylor and Turtle will move in. Don't ya just love a convenient meeting of story lines?