Summary

The neighbors “huddled together” discussing what they did and did not know of what had happened (73). They invented stories. They imagined the widow casting spells, turning everyone and everything into cloth. Then she would put the scraps into her bag and carry them with her.

The neighbors insisted upon their innocence. Their coffee grounds showed “an angry darkness” (73). They had known the widow was a witch from the start.

The neighbors decided to call their families “in the old country, to find out the full story” (73). After exchanging the stories they had collected, they were shocked that the truth was not hard to find.

They learned that the widow married “right out of high school” (73). The husband liked her, but “was primarily interested in her family’s money” (73). Her parents bought the new couple a house “on the coast” per the widow’s...