18

Months pass as Agnes hones her covert listening, watching Ofkyle’s pregnancy turn the household into a site of veneration. Agnes reflects on her unknown father and the injustice of Handmaids losing their children, recalling her own severance from her birth mother and clinging to the memory of Tabitha.

When Agnes gets her first period and stays home with cramps, the Birthmobile arrives. Though forbidden to witness, she hides on the stairs, hearing Handmaids chant and Ofkyle’s agonized cries. The situation worsens; Aunts call urgently for help, and a real doctor rushes in, cursing—an electrifying breach of decorum.

A healthy son, Mark, is delivered for Paula and Commander Kyle, but Ofkyle dies from blood loss after being cut open. In the kitchen, Marthas confirm a wet nurse will be needed and that saving the baby cost the mother’s life. Agnes slips upstairs, sees Ofkyle’s pale body, vows never to forget her, and later, with access to records, discovers Ofkyle’s original name: Crystal.

At the small funeral, now permitted as a menstruating “woman,” Agnes hears Aunt Lydia praise Ofkyle’s supposed noble sacrifice. Paula and Commander Kyle appear solemn; some Handmaids weep. Agnes, already grieving, rejects the sanctified narrative, recognizing that Crystal did not choose to die but was sacrificed for the child.