Gold and Dross
- Author Anne visits the Lee home for the first time about two years after Lia returns home from MCMC. She's seven now (Lia, not Anne), but unable to move or speak.
- Miraculously, Lia completely stabilized when she returned home. Whoa—do those herbal treatments really work?
- Neil is there when they bring Lia in for her first checkup. Neil apologizes to Nao Kao and Foua with tears in his eyes—Foua thanks and hugs him, while Nao Kao remains cold.
- Regardless, both parents still blame the hospital for Lia's condition. That doesn't mean they love her any less, however—she's still their "anointed one" (15.20).
- Nao Kao and Foua do a great job taking care of Lia. Even still, there are several moments when the stress and sadness it causes them peek through.
- Besides Jeannie Hilt, the family's most frequent visitor is Martin Kilgore, a nurse (and part-time "nudist") with the Merced County Health Department (15.31). He's a nurse with the Health Department, that is—the nudism's on his own. Anne accompanies him on one of his visits.
- The encounter is awkward, to say the least. The Lees act intimidated and standoffish in response to Kilgore's loud voice and confusing directions. Not to mention that he's naked. (Just kidding. That's why it's part-time.)