Abby begins exhibiting peculiar behavior: “On the very first day of 2012, Abby began disappearing” (75). Stem picks up his three boys and can’t find Abby. Neither Red (who’s now hard of hearing) nor the boys know where she is. Red mentions an incident Abby had while driving one of the boys (Petey) and thinks they should sell her car. Though the family searches everywhere, they later find her sitting on her bed. She apologizes for not hearing them, but something seems off. “There was something contrived and stagey in her posture, as if she had hastily scrambled into place when she heard their steps on the stairs” (81). As time progresses, Abby’s demeanor changes as well. She takes on a fretful, forgetful expression, and she even throws out her idea box, once a prized object, without remorse. She also begins calling their dog, Brenda, by their dead dog’s name: Clarence. Though 72, her family reasons that she can’t have Alzheimer’s.

Red has a heart attack in May. When his children ask him to retire, he refuses. He does begin wearing hearing aids, though he hates them to the point of never using them. Red starts slacking off with the house’s upkeep.