Summary

"The Little Dustman" – The narrator is stuck on a train, waiting to get to his stepmother’s funeral. The woman was only the narrator’s stepmother for two years, until his father divorced. The narrator, whose own biological mother died longer before, remembers how he came to look at his stepmother as a real mother. He reflects on how he stayed close with her over the years, even after the divorce. He remembers how his stepmother secretly wrote a novel, believing herself to be inferior to the narrator’s father, an artist. The narrator also remembers how his father made her a beautiful cloisonné pendant.

The narrator recalls going places with his stepmother, such as the zoo, hoping that she would find whatever she needed for her novel. The narrator explains his stepmother became an unsuccessful published writer, including a...