Klara and the Sun

Josie and Chrissy are both colder toward Klara than they were before the trip to Morgan’s Falls. Josie gets sicker and is no longer able to come downstairs for breakfast in the morning. Dr. Ryan visits frequently, and Josie stops her virtual classes. Believing that the sun has healing capabilities because of her misconception about the beggar and his dog, Klara wonders why the sun hasn’t helped Josie, concluding that “it might be necessary to draw his attention to Josie’s situation in some particular and noticeable way” (116).

Rick starts visiting, and Melania instructs Klara to stay in Josie’s room while Rick is over to ensure “no hanky-panky” (118). Rick and Josie play “the bubble game,” in which Josie draws figures with blank thought and speech bubbles, and Rick fills in the words. They both enjoy the game, operating intuitively with little conversation, and it raises Josie’s spirits. Eventually, Rick’s visits grow tense. He doesn’t finish a drawing of an “eyeball tribe” (123) that he finds disturbing, and Josie thinks his caption of a drawing of “Water Blob Person” (123) is strange. After Rick leaves one day, Josie tells Klara that Rick doesn’t want her to change and “gets accusing when [she’s] any way he doesn’t like” (126). Rick also references the portrait Josie has been sitting for, saying he is suspicious of the artist, Mr. Capaldi. Klara senses that “their bubble game was filled with danger” (127). On one visit, the game devolves into a barbed conversation. Josie disparages Rick’s mother, and Rick writes a cruel caption and leaves. His visits stop. Klara offers to play the bubble game in Rick’s place, but Josie turns her down. A few weeks later, Josie draws a picture and puts it in a large envelope. Klara offers to take the drawing to Rick, suggesting they apologize to each other, and Josie agrees.

Klara leaves for Rick’s. She has to concentrate hard in order to navigate the terrain: “the ground soon became hard to predict, a soft step often coming straight after a hard one” (136). Rick’s house is shabby. He invites Klara in when she arrives and apologizes for the smell in the living room. He opens the envelope and reads the caption Josie wrote: “Rick and Josie forever” (138). They talk about Rick coming back to Josie’s; Rick thinks Josie ought to apologize to him and tells Klara that Josie sometimes treats him unfairly.

Because she believes that the sun rests every night in Mr. McBain’s barn, Klara asks Rick if there is a path to it. Rick offers to help Klara get there, but Klara thinks she has to go alone. Helen, Rick’s mother, comes downstairs, and eventually greets Klara. She is kind to Klara but blunt, and Rick feels embarrassed. Helen tells Klara about Atlas Brookings, the one university that accepts unlifted students, albeit a very small number. Helen hopes that Rick is accepted. She asks Klara if she might tutor Rick and also tries to get Klara to ask Josie to persuade Rick to try hard on his application. She tells Klara about her upbringing in England and recounts a strange story, in which she witnessed Chrissy struggling outdoors with a girl who resembled Sal, years after Sal’s death. Klara leaves, and Rick says he might come to see Josie.

Before sunset, Klara walks down to Mr. McBain’s barn. She has more difficulty with the terrain, but Rick sees her and carries her to the barn. When they arrive, Klara tells Rick to leave, believing that privacy might be important for her bargaining with the sun. Inside, Klara sees hay bales and shelving. As the sun sets, and orange light passes through the barn, Klara prays silently, forming the words in her mind: “Please make Josie better. Just as you did Beggar Man” (163). She remembers the bull at Morgan’s Falls, “staring angrily, as though [she’d] had no right to be passing before his field,” and worries that the sun may be insulted by her presumptions. Klara offers to do something to please the sun in exchange for healing Josie, suggesting that she find the Cootings Machine and “put an end to its Pollution” (164). The sun sets, and Klara feels a “friendly darkness” (164), which she takes as a sign that the sun heard and approved of her offer. She finds Rick outside upon leaving the barn and relays Helen’s hope that Rick might put more effort into his Atlas Brookings application.

The next day, Rick comes to visit. Rick and Josie are friendly toward each other, and Josie apologizes for the things she said about his mother. Josie asks Klara to leave her room. Klara ponders how to destroy the Cootings Machine and is presented with an opportunity: Chrissy tells her that she will be going into town with Josie to sit for her portrait again and that she’d like Klara to come. Mr. Capaldi, she adds, “takes a special interest in AFs” (171).

The following Sunday, Rick and Helen visit. Rick says he will try harder to get into Atlas Brookings, and Helen mentions her “secret weapon,” an ex-boyfriend named Vance who might be able to help his chances at acceptance. Klara learns that Rick and Helen will come to town with them when they go to see Mr. Capaldi. Two days later, Melania takes Klara aside and warns her to watch Mr. Capaldi because she doesn’t trust him. Klara tells Melania she has a plan to heal Josie, which Melania dismisses.

Late one night, Klara hears Josie crying under the covers. Josie tells Klara to get her mother. Klara hesitates, but Chrissy comes into the room and comforts Josie, who is grappling with the implications of her illness: “Don’t want to die, Mom. I don’t want that” (177).