Summary

“Tipping” begins with the main character reflecting on her life with her husband, who has just died. He was physically abusive toward her and unfaithful. Her mother is there and gently tries to get her to get cleaned up, but she does not want to wash the last of her husband, Chuck, off of her now that he has just died. That morning, the two had just had tender and passionate sex that felt like a rejuvenation of their love to the narrator. Meanwhile, the narrator remembers her childhood and how her mother used to beat her sister. She worries about how she is going to break the news to her children that Chuck has died when they get back from school. When they do arrive home from school, Lettie, the narrator, is woken up by Tootie, one of her children...