Chapter 4

Chapter 4 switches back to Lou Ann. Angel comes back only to keep up appearances because Lou Ann's mother and grandmother come to visit. He understands that it is important for him to be there, and i'm sure Loud Ann is grateful because she knows her mother and grandmother didn't like him from the start, and they would not allow her to be living alone with a baby; they'd probably make her come live with them. Loud Ann names the baby Dwayne Ray, who was born on the first of January. I think that is almost ironic because Lou Ann didn't want the baby to be born on a holiday, yet January first is the beginning of a New Year; perhaps it is a burden for the baby but luck for the family.
Lou Ann's grandmother keeps the shades closed because she doesn't want the heat to harm the baby. Granny Logan brought a coke bottle filled with water from the Tug Fork River, which is the water in which Lou Ann was baptized. She wants Lou Ann to baptize her baby, Dwayne, in the same water. Her mother and grandmother head back to Kentucky, and for a second Lou Ann thinks about going with them, but she realizes how miserable she would be. Granny Logan and Lou Ann's mother are constantly argueing, and she knows she is better off being alone in Arizona.
Although Lou Ann didn't mention to her grandmother or mother that Angel left her, she tells Bobby Bingo. This surprised me but i could understand where she was coming from. It feels much better to tell a stranger a secret that you cannot tell anyone you'r close too.
It is pointed out that the presence of a man feels more alone than when there is a presence of a woman in the house; as if the men's presence isnt there, or as if it doesnt really matter. Angel is becoming worse and worse, and when he comes home with the smell of beer on his breath, it goes downhill. He sees the bottle of Tug Fork River water and wants to know what its for. Upon hearing that it is for his babies baptism, he pores it down the drain. What was once a connection to Lou Ann's family, childhood, and being accepted in a baptism was now no longer availabe because of Angel. If he left, he should not have much say in the babies way of being rasied; in my opinion, if he cared that much, he should have stayed.