Chapter 16: Step-and-a-Half

Well, we have reached the end of our novel, and what a fascinating end it is. We find ourselves reading a very detailed description of the town pariah, Step-and-a-Half; a very strange and seemingly anti-social person who collects literally everything she can get her hands on. Yet perhaps the most interesting thing about her is that she knows everything about everyone in town; she knows people’s dirty habits, their secrets, and their shames. Most important of all, she holds the key to the mystery of Delphine’s mother, Minnie. And when we find out that she is in fact Minnie, the love of Roy’s life, it seems that the lid is blown wide open. But there is more, it seems: not only is Minnie not Delphine’s mother, she had found Delphine abandoned in an outhouse by her mother, who is none other than Mrs. Shimek, Mazarine’s mother. In perhaps not the best state of mind, Minnie took the baby to Roy’s house and left her there, and that is where she stayed. I think, in the end, it all comes down to the tremendous responsibility of life, and what one does with it. Both Roy and Mrs. Shimek chose not to accept certain responsibilities, but life went on, forever echoing the consequences of those decisions. I don’t think that Louise meant us to be angry over this, however, but simply to accept that yes, this is the way life is; it is wild and unpredictable and we often don’t know where we come from or like Minnie, where we are going. And that’s okay, because like Delphine, we will be okay no matter what. It is a testament to human capability, and human fault.