Chapter 3

The three girls find themselves stranded in the rain. Joan goes around to the living room window and pushes her way inside. Sam makes the wry observation that it must be something her mother always did as a teenager—in order to sneak out and party with her friends or meet boys. When asked for her opinion, Lily confesses that she can’t imagine their mother with anyone besides their deceased father, which Sam scoffs at. Inwardly, Lily laments that she used to be able to confide anything in her sister.

Once inside, the three are puzzled to find chests and cardboard boxes barricading the basement entrance. Joan instructs Lily and Sam to go upstairs and change into dry clothes. Alone with Lily, Sam criticizes their mother’s decision to move back to Halmoni’s house. Lily timidly tries to defend their mother. Finally, the two hear a door slam from downstairs, signaling to them that Halmoni is home.

Chapter 4

Halmoni arrives with an armful of groceries, greeting the three joyously. When Joan tries to berate her about not waiting for them inside the house, Halmoni cheerfully brushes her off. Halmoni then warmly acknowledges Lily, who inwardly states that Halmoni is the only person on whom her invisibility doesn’t work.

Halmoni explains that she stacked the boxes because the basement had flooded, but she refuses to let Joan move them, as it is an unlucky day. Lily makes a mental note to ask Halmoni about tiger spirits. Joan, meanwhile, is impatient with Halmoni’s superstitions.

While helping Halmoni set the table for kosa—a ritual in which food is laid out to commemorate the deceased—Lily confides in her about the disappearing tiger she saw. Halmoni reveals to Lily that she stole something from the tigers once. Lily asks what she stole, but Halmoni refuses to say, which leaves her wondering.