Woman on the Edge of Time

Jackrabbit pulls Connie into his arms and tries to comfort her, telling her that he knows she is sad and wrongly confined and urging her to stay with them as long as she can. While holding her close, he becomes physically aroused. Connie is shocked and breaks free of him. He apologizes, telling her that he meant no harm and finds her attractive. Luciente is not bothered by this since her world practices free love, but Connie is still surprised and unamused.

They take her to tour more of the village and explain how things function. The village has a limited amount of solar power and uses it to do the jobs people would not want to do, such as manufacturing pillows and comforters (the village’s main export) and mining. The rest of the jobs, such as planting and art, are done by people. Connie also tours the children’s house, where children learn by doing things such as gardening as well as reading. She is disturbed when she sees a man breastfeeding an infant, but Luciente explains that two of the three co-mothers always agree to breastfeed, regardless of sex. They use hormones to induce lactation.

The group meets Magdalena, who runs the children’s house. She explains the society’s educational philosophy to Connie, but they are interrupted when they pass by some young children who are experimenting sexually with one another. Connie is horrified and compares this to playing with knives, but Magdalena tells her that Mattapoisett believes the harm lies not in sex but in lack of consent. Their notions of evil, she says, involve stripping others of agency. Connie is not convinced, but she changes her mind about this future’s value when she sees a young girl who looks like Angelina. She thinks that she would give anything, including her life, to let Angelina grow up in a strange but free world.

In the hospital, Connie receives a barrage of psychological and personality tests. In between, she chats with a young patient named Skip, whose family committed him for being gay, and Sybil, who has returned from electroshock therapy. They also meet an older Black woman who calls herself Alice Blue Bottom. She is bold and likable, and she teases Skip and Connie, telling them that she is afraid of no man alive.

Connie visits Mattapoisett again and witnesses a government meeting as well as a death. Sappho, an old woman who taught the children, is dying. The village gathers to keep her company until the end; after she passes, everyone stays up late telling stories. They then bury her simply, planting a tree over the grave. One of her children, Bolivar, arrived from another village just in time to say goodbye to her. Connie is jarred out of her vision by a nurse slapping her face. She tells the nurse that her medicine made her sleepy, but the nurse seems suspicious.

Skip tells everyone that the hospital is moving the patients to a new ward. His parents have written, telling him that they are proud that Dr. Redding and Dr. Aspen, both famous practitioners, have chosen him to be part of the new pilot program. Connie borrows money from Skip to call Dolly and is forced to beg the nurse to let her use the phone. She waits in line for a long time, and when she finally gets to call, she gets the answering service. A few days later, Dolly sends a letter saying that Geraldo abandoned her, leaving her to pay the hospital bill for her abortion. However, she has a new man named Vic and is doing well, so she will visit soon.

Connie visits Luciente, who takes her to a festival in the village. They celebrate with marijuana, drinking, and dancing as well as art and games. Villagers wear costumes made from algae called “flimsies” that are recyclable and used only once. She also sees an art film made by Bolivar called a “holi.” Luciente goes off with an old lover, Diana, who is in town for the festival. Connie stays and dances with Bee, Luciente’s partner. The two of them make love, and Connie feels at peace.

Back in the hospital the next day, Connie is still marveling at the strangeness of Mattapoisett’s ideas of love. She is also surprised that people there find her attractive and compares herself to Dolly. She waits all day, but Dolly does not come for the promised visit.

As Skip predicted, the patients are moved to a new ward. Sybil tells Connie that she saw Alice there: She was confined to bed and had bandages covering her head because the doctors had put needles in her brain. Connie thinks that it sounds like something out of a movie but worries that it is true.

Connie makes a brief visit to Mattapoisett, where Luciente and others explain that there are pivotal times in history when things can go in different directions. Connie’s era is such a time, and they hope that she will help avert a worse future. She is surprised that they contacted her instead of a revolutionary, but they explain that all change comes from ordinary people working tirelessly until something changes.

In the ward, the doctors gather around Alice’s bed and videotape themselves demonstrating the new technology. They have placed electrodes in her head and stimulate different centers of her brain, causing euphoria and compliance as well as decreased violence. Connie and the others are frightened that this fate awaits them as well.

Connie journeys again to Mattapoisett. Luciente explains that she and Bolivar, who is also Jackrabbit’s lover, have been fighting and must now meet with a mediator to talk through their problems. They eventually make peace, agreeing that they have different personalities but can respect one another. As they do so, Connie makes conversation with Parra, a woman from another region who studies rivers. She is again struck by the cruelty of her own life and the ways that it could have been different if she had been raised like Parra.