The Latecomer

Phoebe is 17 years old, and it is October of her senior year at Walden. After school, she picks up the mail, which is filled with college brochures. Phoebe is not interested in college yet and is embarrassed to admit that she’s uncertain if she’s ready to leave home. She and Johanna are still living in the Brooklyn Heights house, and because her father died on one of the planes in the September 11 terrorist attack, at school she is seen as a tragic figure.

Johanna’s sister Debbie is visiting, and Phoebe opens the mail in the kitchen. She realizes that one of the envelopes is for Johanna, from the American Folk Art Museum. The museum wants to exhibit the Rizzoli collection that her family owns, in conjunction with Stella’s documentary about him. When Phoebe returns through the living room, she hears Johanna and Debbie talking about how she and Salo had Phoebe because they “might as well” (329) and talking about her surrogate.

Phoebe shows the letter to Lewyn, who now lives in the basement. He is the only one of the triplets that Phoebe speaks to regularly. Sally only returns from Ithaca for funerals, and Harrison, who lives on the Upper East Side, is an arrogant snob.