A House With Good Bones

Content Warning: This section contains mentions of emotional abuse and anti-fat bias.

Gran Mae ties Phil to the table with rose vines and demands that Edith bring out the ham, even though Edith has only been cooking for several minutes. Gran Mae complains that the ham is frozen and berates Edith, who retorts that she “can’t make a ham cook in five minutes” (195). Phil takes the carving knife and cuts the rose vines holding him. Gran Mae shouts that she only wants her family to be nice and “normal,” and is trying to ensure that Sam will have a respectable “gentleman caller” and not end up alone like Edith. She accuses Edith of being defiant and ungrateful. Sam yells at Gran Mae to shut up and not to speak to her mother that way. Gran Mae turns her insults on Sam, calling her fat and lonely, with no husband or children. Sam laughs at her, realizing that she has outgrown Gran Mae’s insults. As Gran Mae whips a rose vine to hit Sam in the face, Gail walks in.