My Sister’s Keeper: 25. The Weekend: Anna Summary & Analysis

Anna asks the reader if they ever wonder how humans got here. She disregards the biblical myth of Adam and Eve, stating that Brian likes the Pawnee myth about two star deities, Evening Star and Morning Star, who created the first female, with the first boy coming from the Sun and the Moon and humans riding in on the back of a tornado. She then talks about how her science teacher described the process by which natural gases and carbon matter turned into one-celled organisms, which eventually evolved into humans. Anna thinks about how amazing it is that humans came from a point of complete nothingness to the point where they can make decisions—and how they still manage to screw everything up.

Two days before the hearing, Anna and Sara are spending time in the hospital with Kate, who is doing a crossword. She asks for a four-letter word for vessel. Anna and Sara throw out a few suggestions before Dr. Chance comes in. He asks for Kate’s pain number, which is a three; he warns that it will rise in the coming hour, and that moments of lucidity like this will slip away. Sara brings up the transplant, which makes the atmosphere in the room uncomfortable. Dr. Chance points out that the availability of an organ is uncertain. Kate asks how long she has to live, and Dr. Chance guesses about a week. Clearly heartbroken, he leaves. Kate takes the news stoically, but Sara curls up in a ball. Anna tells her to stop, and Sara tells her to stop. Anna posits “Anna” as a four-letter word for vessel, then leaves.

Later that day, Anna is at the station, talking to Julia. She looks at the family photos on Brian’s desk. She asks Julia if she has a boyfriend, and Julia quickly says no. Anna confides that she went on a date with her crush Kyle but realized after that he had an erection. She asks Julia if it’s weird to think about this. Julia says no, and that Kyle isn’t weird, either. They discuss their family’s different approaches to sex, with Anna admitting that her family doesn’t talk about it. She asks if Julia thinks Campbell is cute, which shocks Julia, and she says that he looks like a character on one of Kate’s soaps. She then muses that it's weird she’ll be able to get married and Kate won’t. Julia asks her what happens if Kate dies, but Anna doesn’t answer. She stares at a photo of her and Kate.

That night, the station phone rings, and Anna’s surprised to find that her name is being called to answer it. When she picks it up, it’s Sara. Anna, immediately assuming something has happened with Kate, asks if everything is okay—but according to Sara, Kate is asleep. Sara says that she called for two reasons: the first is to apologize. Anna apologizes as well, remembering how Sara used to tuck her and Kate in at night. The second reason, Sara says, is to say goodnight. Anna asks if that’s really all, and Sara responds: “Isn’t that enough?” Anna says yes but doesn’t really agree that it is enough.

Anna can’t sleep, so she goes to the roof to read the Guiness Book of World Records. She spends a long time reading the “Survivors and Lifesavers” section, mentally adding herself and Kate to it. She tries to look for stars, but it’s too cloudy. Brian comes up. Anna asks him how grown-ups find their way without a map, and Brian says they just get used to taking the same turns. Anna then asks if it’s true that you can use the stars as a map. Brian says yes, using celestial navigation, but it requires a great deal of convoluted math. Anna, though, thinks that she’d be able to figure it out by heading to the place where every star position crosses.