The placenta serves the function of an engraved invitation. It murmurs quietly to the fetus throughout her development: "You are cordially invited to join the real world; clothing optional; no guests, please." Unfortunately, just as she prepares to leave, the placenta dies, and the baby, having just gotten past the entrance, thinks that she has lost her invitation. She begins to cry from embarrassment at her faux pas. Of course, her invitation is expelled after her, but the doctors simply toss it into the wastebasket, never bothering to reassure her of her status at the party. As she grows older, she begins to think of herself as an ontological gate-crasher, someone who exists only to make the other guests uncomfortable.