Chapter 3 Summary

The death of Grandma Moore is surefire material for garnering sympathy, or at least free cookies, from the ladies of the neighborhood. Mary describes the bluntly grotesque description she offered up whenever people asked. For a while, the "eighteen-month horror show," is contained by her succinct retelling. The adult Lecia claims to have genuinely mourned her grandmother's death, while Mary was too young and uncaring to remember the woman how she really was. The truth of how Mary felt is muddy, but she is willing to delve into what really happened. From the silence, her memories begin to emerge.

The first real horror of Grandma Moore's illness is visual. In an attempt to stop the spread of cancer, the doctors pipe mustard gas into her leg. The treatment results in gangrene, causing Grandma to scream for weeks despite the morphine, and in the...