My Sister’s Keeper: 15. Thursday: Julia Summary & Analysis

Julia is in Brian’s car, which is full of star charts. She asks him about his sky atlas, and he explains that he’s a hobby astronomer. He tells her that Anna is named after a galaxy, and he also tells her that 90 percent of the universe is full of things humans can’t see. She asks how he knows it’s there, and he tells her that dark matter has a strong gravitational pull; you can see other things being pulled in its direction.

The previous night, after Campbell’s departure, Izzy comes out to the living room and criticizes Julia for being drawn back to him. She warns Julia that mosquitos avoid the zapper light after their first encounter with it and tells her to request a case transfer, which Julia refuses to do. Izzy responds that Julia has a history of falling for men who hurt her, and she doesn’t want to sit around watching Julia pretend to not have feelings for Campbell when Julia has been trying to get over him for 15 years. Julia leaves the apartment.

Julia goes to Shakespeare’s Cat, a bar, with the intention of hooking up with someone, but she quickly realizes she’s at a gay bar. She ends up striking up a conversation with the bartender, Seven, who renamed himself the year before. She stays at the bar for three hours, eventually breaking down in tears after confessing that Campbell used to call her Jewel. She tells Seven that she used to have pink hair, and he says that he used to have a real job. When she asks what happened, he says that he dyed his hair pink. Julia says she lets hers grow out. Seven says that people never want what they already have.

Back with Brian, Julia arrives with him to the Fitzgerald house, where Anna is eating breakfast. Brian tells her that he’s planning on bringing Julia to the hospital and asks her if she wants to come along; Anna is hesitant. Sara then calls, letting Brian and Anna know that Kate’s woken up. Anna lets Julia know this but doesn’t seem especially thrilled by it; Kate asked where she was. Julia asks her if she’s talked to Kate about the lawsuit, but Anna is more concerned with the cereal, which is stale. As she tries to put it away, she spills it all over the floor and frantically tries to scoop it up. Julia tells Anna that they can always buy Kate more cereal. Anna asks Julia what if Kate hates her, and Julia asks: “What if she doesn’t?”

At the bar, Seven tells Julia that people never fall for who they’re supposed to, citing Romeo and Juliet as an example of what happens when a couple “bucks the system.” He talks about his own past flame, Linden (who Julia tricks him into admitting is a woman, “outing” him as straight at the gay bar). Seven tells Julia that, although his relationship with Linden was nearly perfect, something was missing; when they broke up, he felt nothing. Julia tells him that she had the opposite problem: she felt everything for her relationship but had no room to grow it.

Julia reflects on her relationship with Campbell, which confused everyone around them. Although most people thought it was because she was promiscuous, the two of them weren’t having sex. She recalls spending time with him in the cemetery, doing things like reading poetry to each other and pretending to be clairvoyant. One night, she suggests that the two of them have sex. When she asks him if he’s a virgin and he smiles, she takes it as a yes and wonders why he doesn’t want to sleep with her. He tells her that he doesn’t want her to think he’s only with her for sex, and he confesses that he loves her. The two of them have sex, during which Campbell realizes that Julia is a virgin—he’d assumed she wasn’t. The encounter ends awkwardly.

Julia blames Campbell for the fact that she has had bad luck with men ever since being with him. She tells Seven that she has only had sex with three and a half other man since Campbell: a rebound, a married man, and a very handsome man with an extremely small penis. Seven assumes that this is the “half,” but Julia corrects him—she was raped by an unknown man while she was drunk. Seven calls her “a train wreck of sexual history,” but internally, Julia refutes this: a train wreck happens by accident, but she thinks she runs into disaster on purpose.

Brian, Anna, and Julia visit Kate in the hospital. Sara holds out her hand to Anna, leading her to climb onto Kate’s bed. Sara asks Brian why Julia is here. Julia says she wishes to talk to Kate. She expects protest from Sara, but surprisingly, it’s Anna who protests, since Kate is still sick. Julia notes that Anna is trying to keep her from turning against Kate. Sara asks Julia outside, where she tells her that while it’s good that she’s sticking up for Anna, it’s Sara’s job to take care of her daughters, and neither of them are doing well. She asks Julia not to tell Kate that Anna hasn’t withdrawn her lawsuit. Julia agrees. Before going back into Kate’s room, Sara tells Julia that she loves both her daughters.

At the bar, Julia tells Seven that “true love is felonious.” She cites how, when you love someone, you “take” their breath away, “rob” them of their ability to speak, and “steal.” Seven responds that any judge would throw out that sort of case, but Julia disagrees. Seven suggests that perhaps love is a misdemeanor instead—but Julia counters that, once you’re in love, you’re in for life.

Brian, Sara, and Anna go down to the cafeteria, leaving Julia alone with Kate, who is curious about who Julia is. Julia tells her that she’s helping the Fitzgeralds make decisions about Kate’s healthcare. She asks Kate how she’s doing, to which Kate gives her a long explanation full of medical jargon, which essentially boils down to her kidneys failing as a result of other treatments. As she puts it, “something is always falling apart in me.” Julia then asks Kate what she wants to be when she grows up, which shocks Kate—nobody ever asks her this. Kate states that she wants to be a ballerina because they have absolute control over their bodies.

Julia asks Kate about Jesse. Kate tells her that Jesse has gotten into “bad stuff,” namely drugs and alcohol. She speculates that he does it to get attention, comparing him to a squirrel living in an elephant exhibit at the zoo. When Julia asks about Anna, Kate recounts a year when she was in the hospital for every single holiday, and six-year-old Anna had a tantrum because she couldn’t have sparklers for the Fourth of July. She empathizes with Anna’s desire to be normal. Julia then asks Kate if the two of them get along, and Kate says that they have a typical relationship: sometimes they’re inseparable, and sometimes Kate wishes she’d never been born. Julia jokes that she has times where she can imagine life without Izzy, but Kate says Anna’s the one who has to imagine life without Kate.