Clarissa (Rissa) discovers a system that converts traded household items into gold coins and offers modern supplies; after earning 100 gold she contemplates buying rice, flour, oil and sanitary pads and realizes she can survive and thrive in the 1970s. She hides the device, changes into a dress, and her mother fusses with a necklace found while sorting jewelry. Others whisper that the stranger called her "Mom." As River arrives, someone notices a pearl hairpin and announces the woman is the book's original heroine and River's childhood sweetheart, Paige Snyder — a revelation that leaves the gathering charged and unresolved.