Blonde: A Novel

Norma Jeane is engaged to Bucky Glazer at 15 years old, but Bucky’s mother reminds him of Gladys’s mental illness. She is concerned that mental illness could appear in Norma Jeane.

Elsie considers what a great foster child Norma Jeane is. She is always happy and dutiful. However, she has started to catch her husband, Warren, watching Norma Jeane inappropriately. Elsie asks Norma Jeane if there are any men she would consider marrying, and Norma Jeane asks if Elsie is talking about Mr. Haring or Mr. Widdoes, who, she says, she did not know was married. Elsie tells her that the state could end up taking her away if she is not married. When Elsie talks about premarital pregnancy, Norma Jeane tells her that she has not done anything she is not supposed to and that she will stop dating. 

Norma Jeane narrates that boys she goes on drives with do not touch her where she does not want to be touched, and they only kiss her with closed mouths. Detective Frank Widdoes watches Norma Jeane but claims not to have touched her inappropriately. He knows he could get in trouble because of her age, and he also knows he cannot adopt her because he has his own children.