Summary

Jim and Helen Burgess traveled New York City to Maine to drop their grandson off at summer camp and visit Jim’s brother, Bob, and his wife, Margaret. Helen had not been to Maine in almost a decade, and the differences between herself and her sister-in-law Margaret were visible immediately. Margaret had recently cut her gray hair short, shocking the more urban Helen. As they walked inside, Helen took note of how filthy and small the house was, thinking “she would go absolutely batty if she had to live in two rooms like this” (171).

Bob reflected on his relationship with Margaret and how she had forced him to face some of his childhood trauma. He had grown up in Shirley Falls before moving to New York, but the town still carried the weight of his father’s death. For most of his life he...