Patina

Uncle Tony and Patty arrive at the hospital and learn that both Momly and Maddy are alive. Maddy has sustained no injuries, but Momly has a concussion and a broken arm. Momly’s doctor, Dr. Lancaster, assures the family that Momly will be fine, but Maddy is anxious that the doctors will have to “anfiltrate” (amputate) Momly’s arm (159).

Sensing that Maddy needs distraction, Patty pretends to struggle to move a set of chairs across the room and asks Maddy to use her strength to help. Maddy moves the chairs easily and then tries to perform a series of escalating feats of strength (including trying to lift Dr. Lancaster off the ground). Everyone calls for Maddy to stop after she tries to lift Momly’s hospital bed off the ground.

Dr. Lancaster informs them that Momly will need surgery to set her broken arm bone back into place and schedules the surgery for the next day. Momly suggests that Uncle Tony let the girls skip the rest of school, but that Patty must attend track practice, sensing that Patty needs to run.

Patty worries about the implications of Momly’s injuries on her family’s structure and daily routine. She worries that she will need to take on more responsibilities and realizes how much Momly takes care of things so that others don’t have to, which she “never…really…thought about” (166). Her fellow “newbie” teammates realize something is wrong when she arrives at practice, but Patty brushes it off and says she will talk to them later.

Coach reveals his plan for practice that day: the 4 x 800 relay teams will start their long run apart but end together as a group. They will need to depend on one another and work as a team; if one leg drops the baton (covered in petroleum jelly for an added challenge), then the team must start over. Patty is excited to learn that she is the last leg of the relay team–the anchor. Patty and her relay teammates begin their run out of the park and through the city, and their waltz training proves itself effective when their handoffs work smoothly.

The boys’ relay team drops their baton, putting the girls ahead, and suddenly Patty and her teammates notice that they don’t know where to go next without Coach Whit leading the way. Coach reappears and tells them to choose a direction, but all four girls are reluctant to make a choice. In an important turning point for Patty, she takes the lead and chooses the direction that she and her teammates should go to make it back to the park. Coach commends her for taking the lead and then directs them back to the park and the track.

At the end of the chapter, Patty fights back tears as she sees Uncle Tony and Maddy waiting to pick her up. She reminds herself to “Be strong, Patty” (180), and asks Uncle Tony and Maddy to wait another 10 minutes. She joins up with Ghost and Lu, who are running an added mile for coming in last during practice. Sunny joins them as well, and the four friends finish the mile run together. Patty finally explains what happened to Momly and Maddy and becomes overwhelmed as she begins to think about the additional responsibilities she will need to take on as Momly recovers. Sunny begins to cry, saying “Just, thinking about your mother. It just got me, y’know?” (185) and the friends gather around him in a group hug.