One of the most significant subplots that Phoebe faces that relates to what Sal faces is when both of their mothers leave. While their mothers were here, everything seemed to be fine. But both of their mothers left and that changed Sal and Phoebe. So, Sal and Phoebe both have to face the same struggle of living without their mothers, something they are not used to. Sal’s mother needed to leave to clear her head and learn about what she was. Phoebe’s mother needed to leave because she needed to sort things out. However, Sal’s mother never came back because she died in a bus crash but Phoebe’s mother did come back. Sal says, “My father started chipping away at a plaster wall in the living room of our house in Bybanks shortly after my mother left