The novel's perspective switches to Auggie's older sister, Via, who begins by talking about how she has gotten used to how her entire family life revolves around Auggie and his needs. She says that she does not mind this situation because she is used to it, though such a setup has meant that she and her own needs and problems often take second place. Although Via doesn't remember what her life was like before Auggie was born, she can see from photographs how much attention she got back then. She notes, though, that this year things have started to change.
Via talks about how she never saw Auggie the way other people see him -- could never understand the horror and fright on their faces when they first encountered him. Her perceptions changed for a moment after she spent a month with her grandmother in Montauk; upon coming back home after those weeks away, she saw Auggie, for just a second, the way other people did. Via muses that the only person she could have talked to about the way she felt was Grans. Unfortunately, two months after Via's return, Grans died of a heart attack. This loss devastated Via, because she had a very special relationship with her grandmother, who secretly told Via that she loved her more than anyone else in the world -- even Auggie -- because Via needed an angel looking out for her too.
