Woman on the Edge of Time Chapter 4 Summary

  • Connie makes friends with a nurse, Ms. Fargo, who is about her age and is also Latina. She does little chores for Ms. Fargo and Ms. Fargo gives her cigarettes or other privileges.
  • The hospital has electroshock, which scares Connie, because getting zapped with an electric current by people who clearly don't care about you is pretty frightening.
  • An inmate named Sybil shows up; she and Connie met the last time Connie got incarcerated and became good friends.
  • Sybil's a witch; she puts hexes on people (though they don't seem to actually do much good, the hexes).
  • The two of them talk about sex a little; Sybil doesn't care about it.
  • Connie realizes she talks to people more in the asylum than outside—which is pretty depressing.
  • A doctor, Dr. Morgan, shows up and picks Connie to do something or other—what it is exactly they don't say. (That's not good medical care; imagine if a doctor pointed to you and said, "Hey, we're going to use you for a procedure!" but didn't tell you what the procedure was. This would not be conducive to calm.)
  • Connie looks in the mirror on the way over to the testing the next day and she looks awful.
  • At the waiting area for the test she meets a young man named Skip, they try to figure out what's going on.
  • Connie goes in for an interview; it's much like every other psychological interview she's had, though the doctors seem less involved and Dr. Redding keeps asking her about her brain.
  • In general, you don't want doctors asking about your brain.
  • The doctors seem to be happy to hear that her second husband Eddie beat her up. They select her for the program.
  • Connie gets moved to Ward G-2, where they give her pills rather than liquid, which means she can pretend to take them and not do so, which means her head will be clearer. She also gets a chance to go outside a little. So the change seems for the better, as these things go.
  • Not for long though.