Summary

The morning of Helen's funeral, Marta joined Sofia in her family's apartment, and Mrs. Paradissis gave them food including her special occasion cookies. Mrs. Paradissis told Marta that the majority of her own siblings were still in Greece, unable to ever come to America. She assured Marta that just as she would see her own siblings again in heaven, Marta would see Helen again too, which Marta remembers as a "cold comfort" (90).

Marta's neighbors on Barren Shoal "took up a collection" (90) for the Eisenstein's, so that they would not have to take a garbage barge to Brooklyn for the funeral. The elderly Marta confesses that she feels "compassion" and "patience" (95) for the little girl she once was during that time of grief. She wishes she could go back in time and "console" (95) her former self who longed to be "the center of someone's...