Summary

In the chapter “Junk Clearance,” the narrator notes that after the fiasco with the special guest, Emerence loved the narrator with a love that was ferocious and almost Biblical. However, she showed her love in unusual ways. During a collection of junk from other people’s houses, Emerence went through the piles and gathered things she believed to be of worth. These things included a painting in a damaged frame, one patent leather boot, and a statue of a brown dog with a chipped ear. Emerence cleaned and placed these things in the narrator’s house as a surprise.

The narrator’s husband was first to find the things and was very angry. The narrator understood that Emerence’s actions were motivated by love, but her husband was infuriated by the collection of what he considered to be junk. The narrator...