My Sister's Keeper Part 4 / Chapter 3 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Sara, 1996

  • At this point, Kate has been in remission for five years.
  • Remission is officially over, though, and Kate's starting to bruise again on her birthday.
  • She gets a fish for her birthday, and names him Hercules.
  • Later, now that Kate is in molecular relapse (ouch, that sounds serious) Sara is back to her old ways: ignoring her other kids and focusing all of her attention on Kate.
  • In a fit of rage, Jesse pulls his own braces off with a fork. Yow.
  • Sara decides to bring Anna in to donate blood to Kate.
  • Kids and needles don't mix, and Anna thrashes and cries when they draw blood.
  • One afternoon, Sara knocks over the fishbowl, and Hercules flops out onto the floor; Sara manages to fish him out from under the desk (har har) and drop him back into his bowl.
  • He's not moving, and Anna wonders why, but before Kate can answer, a fishy miracle happens: Hercules starts to swim again.
  • On another day, Suzanne comes to visit to pour some wine down Sara's throat and get her to take a freaking break from Kate for once. They watch Jerry Springer, laughing and enjoying themselves for the first time in a long time.
  • Finally, there's one last dead-fish scare, but again Sara manages to bring Hercules back to life—she wonders if she's used up her life saving miracles on a fish instead of her own daughter.