Foster

An unnamed girl drives with her father, Dan, to Wexford, a town on the coast of Ireland. Dan leaves the girl with Edna and John Kinsella, who will take care of the girl while her mother, Mary, prepares to give birth and then cares for the new baby. After Dan drops off the girl, he drives away without saying a proper goodbye to the girl, which hurts the girl’s feelings. He also leaves the girl without any clothes or her belongings, though the Kinsellas quickly make sure she has everything she needs.

Initially, the girl feels uncomfortable in the Kinsellas’ house and isn’t sure if she belongs there. Edna, though, goes out of her way to try and make the girl feel comfortable. Edna and the girl go down the well together to fetch water, and the water is the cleanest and coldest thing the girl has ever tasted, and she feels like she wants to stay at the Kinsellas’ house for as long as possible.

On her first night in the new house, the girl wets the bed, which she does frequently at her own home as a result of her discomfort. In the morning, Edna comforts the girl, though, and the two then cook breakfast together before doing household chores. In the afternoon, as part of a game, John times the girl as she runs down the driveway to get the mail. After that day, the girl never wets the bed at the Kinsellas’ house again.

The days continue to pass peacefully and uneventfully. The girl waits for the sense of ease and comfort she feels at the Kinsellas’ house to dissipate, but it never does.

One day, a neighbor arrives and asks John to help dig a grave for an elderly relative who recently passed away. Later that day, Edna and the girl go to the wake. At the wake, the girl grows restless, and a neighbor named Mildred offers to take the girl home to look after her while John and Edna stay at the wake. While the girl is at Mildred’s house, Mildred unceremoniously tells the girl that John and Edna had a son who died when he drowned in a slurry pit (a pit of liquid and animal waste on a farm that gradually turns into fertilizer).

Not long after, John and Edna arrive at Mildred’s house to take the girl home. In the car, John and Edna ask what Mildred and the girl talked about. At first, the girl tries to avoid the question, but she then tells John and Edna that she knows they had a son who died. When they get home, John takes the girl down to the ocean to comfort her. After the walk, he hugs her, and it seems like he’s embracing her as if she were his own daughter.

Not long after, a letter from Mary arrives. The letter says that school will be starting the following week, and Mary would like John and Edna to bring the girl back home over the weekend. The girl cries and doesn’t want to leave. That night, while Edna is milking the cows, the girl goes down to the well to fetch water for Edna to use for tea. When the girl lifts the bucket full of water from the well, though, it’s heavier than she expected, and she falls into the well.

The girl climbs out of the well and walks back to the house. When Edna sees her, she grows still. Though the girl doesn’t come down with a fever, Edna keeps her in bed for the next day.

On Sunday, John and Edna drive the girl back to her house. When they arrive, the girl’s siblings look at her like she’s a stranger, and the girl feels like her sisters have gotten skinnier. When the girl starts sneezing, Dan and Mary ask if something happened. The girl says that nothing happened, but Dan and Mary remain suspicious. Dan tells John and Edna that he knew they wouldn’t be able to look after the girl, and Mary reproaches him.

John and Edna then leave. When the girl hears their car stop at the gate at the end of the driveway, she takes off in a run, just like she did to get the mail at the Kinsellas’ house. When the girl reaches John, she jumps into his arms. She wants to tell Edna that she’ll never tell anyone the secret that she fell into the well. But she also doesn’t want to leave John’s embrace. As she’s hugging John, she sees Dan walking down the driveway. As John and the girl hug, the girl says, “Daddy,” first to warn John that Dan is coming and then once more, as she calls John her father.