One Whole and Perfect Day Chapter 26 Summary

The Girl in Black

  • Stan takes the train home from the old neighborhood, stopping to get some stuff for May for her party, including this really annoying glitter that's currently all over their dinner table.
  • On the train, he passes the stop for Lonnie's boarding house, and feels guilty just looking at it.
  • Then again, why should he feel guilty? After all, Lonnie's the shiftless one who's responsible for his mother practically having a breakdown.
  • A young girl gets on the train at the next stop, dressed all in black. She's wearing a sign around her neck saying that she's sixteen and pregnant and goes up and down the aisle as though asking for spare change.
  • Stan gives her money after seeing her rejected by everyone else on the train, including two women who tell Stan that she's probably panhandling to get money for drugs.
  • The cruelty of the two women and the other people on the train really gets to Stan. He thinks about Lonnie and wonders if Lonnie knows that he has family and would be able to come home if he got into trouble.
  • It suddenly makes him angry that there are children Lily's age who have to live on the street.