Chapters 4 and 5 Summary

Penny has a dream about her father. They are at the beach and he is in the water, calling to her. She wakes, wet from the toilet from the floor above her which is leaking again. After fixing the toilet yet again, Pop-pop announces his intention to paint a desk black. It has been his latest craze. He has been painting all of the old furniture in black lacquer paint because Me-me somehow got the idea that it will look nicer. It makes Penny feel like she lives in a funeral parlor. She helps Pop-pop drag the desk out to the summer porch and begin painting it, and Pop-pop is critical about her every move with a brush. A squirrel being chased by Scarlett O'Hara runs in through the open screen door and Scarlett, still chasing, follows. She brushes past the...