Summary

The narration returns to Wilson in the present, and to present-tense, second-person narration. Wilson arrives at the funeral home where Tampico’s funeral is to take place, more than an hour early. He goes inside, noting the dark purple of the drapes on the windows, a floral sort of smell, and that there is no sign of any funeral taking place at the moment, or soon. As he explores the funeral parlor, he finds himself surprised, at first, at there being a room where coffins and urns are for sale. The narration comments, still in second-person narration referring to Wilson as “you,” that “you have never conceived that there would be an opportunity to sell things at a funeral home, but this is America” (141). As Wilson continues his exploration, he makes his way into the parlor’s chapel, where he finds rows of...