East of Eden - post IV

There is a lull while you wait to see what the ‘monster’ Cathy does next after she becomes pregnant but she makes no secret of the plan that she intends leaving California as soon as she can and seems not to care what Adam thinks about it.

Bullet points between pages 160 – 232

* Cathy tires to abort her baby with a knitting needle but fails and the doctor threatens to report her if she attempts it again and informs Adam that he is going to be a father leading him to get excited about settling down

* Adam sets his heart on a property owned by a Swiss man and as part of the process of sounding out opinions on the land is introduced to Samuel Hamilton who offers him friendship and some advice about water

* Adam goes ahead and buys the farm and starts to do it up and sends his Chinese servant Lee to get Samuel Hamilton to come and visit and offer advice about water and on the way back Lee reveals that he is not stupid and can speak English fluently

* Cathy is already on her guard against Lee and when introduced to Samuel she leaves him cold and doesn’t seem to share any of her husband’s warmth or enthusiasm about the farm of Adam’s dream of turning it into an Eden

* The Hamilton’s are taken on to dig three wells and build windmills and as the process starts Cathy goes into labour, a process that Lee describes as strange when he calls on Samuel to come and deliver the baby

What does Lee mean and what will Cathy do next - suspicions are that she will start flirting with the Hamilton boys Joe and Tom who are helping dig the wells. More tomorrow…