When the World Tips Over

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes depictions of mental illness and substance use.

Wynton hears the doctor say that Wynton will never play violin again. Wynton recalls memories with his father: walking with him through the vineyards, receiving his violin, and swinging on the swing set with Miles while their father pushed them. He smells flowers. Cassidy is there and says she will tell him stories.

Cassidy says she will tell her story in three betrayals. She begins when she is eight and living with her mother, Marigold, in an RV they’ve named Sadie Mae. Marigold had a vision of a place she calls The Town and is searching for it on what she calls their great California adventure. Cassidy describes her mother as having many different faces. Her mother disapproves of the collection of insects that Cassidy keeps as pets. Cassidy is fascinated by her mother and her stories that begin “in the time of forever” (109). Even now, she tells Wynton, “my mother’s stories, those strange fables, cling to me” (113). After a school lesson on California history, Cassidy asks about the rest of their family. All she’s been told is that her father died in a surfing accident.