Huzzah! I see a way to tighten the beginning of part two (taking a tip from Joss Whedon, I’m going to concentrate on the “Maggie of it”). Rather than tighten it and the rest of part two now, I’ll move on to part three . . . or, at least, move on to thinking about part three, because there’s no time to do much more than think as I prep for the impending fall semester.
In thinking about part three, I’ve realized that Trish is going to be extremely angry with Maggie when Maggie refuses to rid herself of the Mysterious Object.