“There was no predicting where life would go. There was no real way for a person to try something out, see if he liked it […] because you try it and try it and try it a little longer and next thing it’s who you are.” 

Francis, born in Ireland and now walking a beat in the Bronx, considers how people plan and dream and yet cannot entirely control or direct how their lives will play out.

“No, she wondered if a presence was the thing her new neighbor had, if it was something a person had to be born with and could never be learned.”

As she first assesses her new neighbor, Anne, Lena senses something about this beautiful woman. She feels a suspicion, a sense of caution that she cannot quite name. 

“‘Why is my mother like what?’ Peter answered after a moment […] But he didn’t know, really.”

Peter grows up with a mother who behaves oddly. As a teenager opening up to his new friend, Kate, he is in denial. Rather than acknowledge Anne’s behavior, like everyone else around her, he pretends not to notice.