Chanda's Secrets

Esther takes Soly and Iris for a soda so that they won't be around when Mr. Bateman picks up Sara's body. Chanda prepares dinner, and waits for Mr. Bateman to arrive. When he does, Jonah still has not shown up. After Mr. Bateman leaves with the body, Chanda's mother breaks down in tears at the loss of her daughter.

When Soly and Iris return, they notice that Sara isn't there for dinner. Chanda tells them Sara has gone on a trip, but won't tell them when she will return. Dinner ends with nobody eating their soup.

Mrs. Tafa stops by with a message from Tiro. She tells Lillian that her sister Lizbet will be coming for the funeral, and everyone else sends their regrets. Chanda's sister, Lily, had wanted to come, but is pregnant. The family will, however, send food along with Lizbet.

Chanda's mother tells Mrs. Tafa that Soly and Iris will be sent to their Aunt Ruth's during the funeral. The children become afraid that their mother has given Sara away, and that the are the next to be given away, to Aunt Ruth.

Iris figures out that the 'trip' Sara is on is the same type of trip Iris's father, Isaac Pheto, went on. Iris explains to Soly that one day they will all be together again, in "the most beautiful place you can ever imagine."

Jonah finally shows up, drunk, in the middle of the night. His drinking buddies dump him in the yard, but he is too drunk to manage to open the front door. Although Chanda and her mother would normally drag him inside, tonight they leave him outside.