Chapter 13 Summary

Ellen calls a funeral home to report her grandmother's death. Then she calls her Aunt Betsy and Aunt Nadine to break the news that their mother has died. Betsy and Nadine are irked by the fact that they have to deal with this situation so close to Christmas. Nevertheless, Nadine comes right away. Ellen takes pains to make sure her grandmother is respectably presentable—to the point of gaudiness—so there can be no question that she "didn't do her part." Once her grandmother's body is removed from the house, Betsy and Nadine start fighting over the fact that each other's ignoring of the old woman led to her death. Ellen is grateful she carries no guilt over this death and hopes her extra efforts will somehow compensate in God's eyes for her lack of assistance when her own mother died. In fact...