Summary

After the funeral, everyone goes to eat food and talk and Maggie tells Serena about her children and granddaughter. Maggie complains that Leroy is exposed to secondhand smoke because she lives with her maternal grandmother. Serena tells Maggie to let her go, to let it all go. She says life is all about pruning and disposing anyway. She says that you start distancing yourself from your children from the day of their birth so they will be able to get along without you. She says you go through life discarding your belongings and your friends, your dreams and your illusions until you are finally prepared for death. Maggie notices people don’t talk much about Max, instead they talk about gardening and the World Series. They talk about what is going on in their lives and in the world at large.

Serena decides to show...