Summary

Saturday morning dawns with Tallulah still in Raleigh. Cecelia and Oletta have breakfast and Oletta reveals she is going to visit her Aunt Sapphire, and will take the bus before 11 a.m. Nadine had agreed to come and stay with her, but Cecelia begs Oletta to take her along. Oletta believes she has no choice but to tell Tallulah the truth when she returns based on Cecelia’s ongoing fear of separation, but Cecelia assures her that is not the case and that she just wants to go with her.

The ride by bus is hot and sticky, just as Oletta predicted, but the visit is one filled with surprises for Cecelia. She meets Oletta’s Aunt Sapphire, and several of the other residents of the home, and watching their interactions and unbridled joy over life’s most simple things, Cecelia realizes that...