The new section for this week’s reading starts, like the beginning of the book, with a reflection from the future about the past. Elena notes, “How much that evening had hurt her I learned later from her notebooks. She admitted that she had asked to go with me…” (160-161). And Elena continues on about all the things that Lila later admitted in her journals about the night of the dinner party. But in the present Elena describes Lila as “mean” and “treacherous” (161). Elena does not often talk from the future, so the choice to use future knowledge here must be important. Elena wants to show sympathy for Lila. At the time the way Lila acts towards Elena is horrendous and we might not understand why, so we cannot empathize with her. Once we know how Lila felt thanks to the future perspective, specifically, how upset she was at the dinner party, we are able to have more sympathy for her. Elena also chooses to add the future knowledge before even telling the readers what Lila did. These small details show how much love Elena has for Lila even when they are old. Elena works hard to be gracious to Lila and show a kind image of her in her story, but only once she has the perspective of time and age. Sometimes anger is a thing of the present, and kindness is only something that can come with time.