After a difficult year, in which
Marguerite becomes more and more withdrawn,
Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a neighbor whom Marguerite has always admired, asks to see her. Marguerite walks with Mrs. Flowers to her house, where she has tea and cookies. Mrs. Flowers reads to Marguerite from
A Tale of Two Cities. Maya remembers this as the moment she heard poetry for the first time. Mrs. Flowers gives her books of poems and teachers her how to read, understand, and memorize them. Marguerite feels that for the first time in her life she is liked—not because she is related to
Bailey or
Momma, but just because she is herself.