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Gladys was raised by a series of nannies. She did not meet her mother and father until the day of their wedding, by which time Gladys was already married herself, to John. John used to ask her why she never tried to learn about her parents but she said she was interested in other things, like Pol Pot, and it never really crossed her mind. Gladys had a favorite nanny named Mrs. Philbert. Once Gladys had been fully reclined in her father's favorite armchair--he had deposited the armchair along with his sample at the sperm bank; he wanted his future child to have something impersonal to remember him by. She had, at the time of this particular reclining, two Altoids in her mouth. Mrs. Philbert thought one Altoid was more than enough, so Gladys had two, or three once, but that had made her eyes water though she would not have admitted so even under duress. "Philbert," she said, for Philbert was Mrs. Philbert's first name; she kept her last name a secret even to her family....