The Introduction

The story starts off with the main character Jeanette, in a taxi, when suddenly she sees her mother outside rummaging through a nearby dumpster. Ashamed of her mother's actions she asks the driver to bring her home, in fear of her mother spotting her. When she gets home she begins thinking about her parents and decides to call and arrange for her and her mother to get together for Chinese. When they finally meet up Jeanette can see her mother has tried her best to look presentable for her current living conditions. Jeanette discusses that she wants to help her mother and father change and her mother tells her she her values all wrong and that she needs to accept them they way they are. After this begins a flashback of Jeanette's life stories of growing up with unique parents.