Summary

Noah and Janie attend Tommy’s wake together, and Janie contemplates the meaning of the word, “wake.” Does it refer to the unsettled water after a passing boat? Or the verb, “to awaken?” After learning about Dr. Anderson’s disease, the disease that eats away his words, Janie has started to consider the weight of every word. Even as Denise tells guests, “thank you for coming,” (307) Janie tests the weight of those very words: heavy words. She remembers an Emily Dickinson poem and then suddenly she is choking up and then she is crying. Denise comforts her, taking Janie up to her room, where she sits her on the bed and offers her sleeping medicine and ibuprofen.

With the afternoon sunlight streaming into the bedroom and Noah playing downstairs, Janie and Denise interact alone together for the first time. Denise...