Beatrice-Joanna Foxe Timeline and Summary

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• On the morning of her son's death, Beatrice-Joanna watches as his body is carted away by men from the Ministry of Agriculture.
• As Beatrice-Joanna leaves the State Health Service, she shares an elevator with two lesbian women and a gay man, and calls them all "unclean" as she gets off.
• Beatrice-Joanna makes her way to the Ministry of Infertility, stopping by the seashore as she goes. As she looks out over the English Channel, she contemplates the sea as the ultimate symbol of fecundity and life.
• At the Ministry of Infertility, Beatrice-Joanna files her son's death certificate, and eavesdrops on women who have obviously murdered their own infant children.
• Beatrice-Joanna hangs around in the lobby, hoping to catch sight of her clandestine lover, Derek Foxe. She manages to catch him, and the two make a date for later that afternoon.
• Back in her own apartment, Beatrice-Joanna takes a couple rounds of painkillers, and listens to the news while she straightens up and waits for Derek. When he arrives, they go to bed together, and Beatrice-Joanna realizes too late that she forgot to use any birth control.
• When Tristram gets home sometime later (just as Derek is leaving the building, in fact), Beatrice-Joanna decides that she should have sex with her husband too, just in case she's now pregnant with Derek's child. That way, Tristram will never suspect that the child isn't his.
• Two months later, Tristram realizes that Beatrice-Joanna is pregnant, and insists that she induce a miscarriage. She refuses.
• The next day, as Beatrice-Joanna heads home from the State Provisions Store, Tristram confronts her in the street outside their apartment building. Someone (Captain Loosley) has informed him of her affair with Derek.
• Beatrice-Joanna slips inside as Tristram raves drunkenly in the street, and doesn't see him get swept up into the labor march, or the police riot that follows. As Tristram is carted off to jail, she packs a bag, and gets ready to flee the city.
• Beatrice-Joanna takes a tube train to London, and manages to get on a train to Northern Province from there, despite the fact that Population Police officers at the train station are detaining women who look like they might be pregnant.
• Having made it safely to her sister and brother-in-law's, Beatrice-Joanna bunks down in their outhouse (a small shack near their house), where she plans to wait out the rest of her pregnancy.
• Seven months later, Beatrice-Joanna gives birth to twin boys, whom she names Tristram and Derek.
• Tensions rise between Beatrice-Joanna and her sister Mavis, who doesn't feel safe with Beatrice-Joanna hanging around. But, before Beatrice-Joanna can make up her mind whether to stay or leave, she's discovered by Captain Loosley and the Population Police.
• Beatrice-Joanna travels south with Captain Loosley and the Population Police, who plan to use her and the babies to disgrace Derek. But, by the time they make it back to the Ministry of Infertility, the social tide has shifted, and the ministry is now the Ministry of Fertility.
• Since he now profits from his association with Beatrice-Joanna and the twins, Derek sets up house with them. In their apartment, Beatrice-Joanna is treated like a queen (or a high-class lady, at least), and Derek encourages her to have more babies.
• Beatrice-Joanna isn't stupid: she's starting to think there's something very wrong with the way things are going. She starts making inquiries about Tristram, and decides that it's him she truly loves.
• Even though Derek has told her that Tristram isn't in the British Army, Beatrice-Joanna suspects that he is. She writes a love letter to him, apologizing for the affair, and professing her undying love.
• For weeks, she continues to carry out her usual daily routine, and brings the twins for a walk to the seashore every afternoon.
• Finally, one afternoon, as she stands by the seashore praying for Tristram's return, she feels his hand on her shoulder.