Cutting for Stone

Marion is an attending surgeon now and buys a home in Queens. He is happy there, making it a home. He is the Head of Trauma at Our Lady of Perpetual Succor, loyal to the hospital even though he could have gone elsewhere. The hospital is now well-funded, and the work is challenging and interesting. He should be satisfied, but he is restless.

One night, Genet comes to his door, and he feels all his old anger. She will not make eye contact. He invites her inside and, after she coughs, makes her tea. She recently got out of prison, and Tsige refused to help her until she saw Marion. Genet apologizes; Marion unloads his anger on her, and she accepts it. Then he notices that she is truly unwell, so he cares for her, bathing and feeding her and putting her to bed. Later, after her fever breaks, he tells her to stay, and she asks him to sleep with her in the bed. They have sex, and he tells her it was his first time.

The next day, he sees blood on the sheets, and she tells him that she bleeds with intercourse because of the genital mutilation.