Outside reading blog #6

When asked to testify in defense for her mother in court, Astrid decides to make a deal with her mother. If Astrid testifies for her mother in court, Ingrid in turn must tell the whole truth about Astrid's past such as information on her father, her childhood, and how often Ingrid had deserted her daughter. Through this heartfelt conversation between mother and daughter, Ingrid realizes the pain she had put upon her daughter. Ingrid softly whispers to Astrid, "If I could take it all back, I would, Astrid. You've got to believe me." And in response to that, Astrid says to her mother, "Then tell me you don't want me to testify. Tell me you don't want me like this. Tell me you would sacrifice the rest of your life to have me back the way I was." This was the only way Astrid could truly be free of her mother and continue with life as an individual. Eventually, Ingrid, for the first time in her life, thinks about not her own welfare, but the welfare and future of her daughter and decides to live the rest of her life in prison to save her daughter from ruin. Astrid gets a second chance at life.

Once Astrid turns 18, she meets up with her good friend Paul Trout and they move in together in a fourth-story flat in Berlin. The couple passed time with never ceasing art projects, art classes, art shows--anything involving art. Here, one of Astrid's greatest art pieces is a set of decorated suitcases. Each suitcase represents each one of the foster homes she had been to and her memories from them. Through these suitcases, all the people that passed through her life, Starr, Marvel, Yvonne, Niki, Rena, Claire, her mother, Ray and everyone else became re-existent in her memories again.