Summary

On “Monday,” Hilda told Pew that Steven had decided that Pew could not be left alone in the house with everyone else gone, so Pew would stay with Paulina Gladstone, later identified as Hilda’s step-mother. Pew sat on a couch that was covered in plastic even though he wondered if he was really supposed to sit there.

When Paulina finally began talking to Pew, she told them that she had married late in life. She explained that Charles was widowed with two children and had no choice but to find a woman to help him take care of those children. She agreed to get married even though the children bothered her.

Paulina bragged of her husband that he never hit her. They enjoyed their lives and traveled a good deal. She explained the entire community mourned when Charles was diagnosed. He was not...