Chapter 27 Summary

When Francis is eight, his grandmother begins to change. At first it is visible only in her behavior toward the patients. Grandmother begins to present a proper dinner every night, acting every bit the southern belle she was as a child. Grandmother was a very charming young woman. Grandmother had to be charming, because she had the bad luck to be born with bad teeth. However, when her teeth began to fall out, she had grown so accustomed to them, she had a pair of dentures made to look exactly like her original teeth.

Francis has few friends, because the house is so isolated. Francis enjoys spending time with the housekeeper, Queen Mother. Francis enjoys catching a ride with her and her husband at the end of the day in their wagon. Francis also sometimes plays with the daughter of the sharecropper who...