Grandma Dies and Jeannette's Birthday Wish: Pages 91-101, 119-125

JOURNAL: Have your parents selected not to tell you about the passing of a loved one or family pet? If yes, how did you react when you found out? If not, how do you think you would react?

SUMMARY: Jeanette describes her grandmother’s house as big and white with French doors and Persian rugs. She remembers spending time with her grandmother, getting pampered and one day she cut her hair like a “flapper”. Grandma was a teacher in a one room schoolhouse and have very strong opinions about the ways things needed to get done. These rules drove Jeanette’s mother crazy, so she treated her children differently. But Jeannette loved her grandmother.

Her family is on their way to Phoenix where their grandmother lived and Jeannette asks if they are going to her house. He mom tells her that their grandmother is dead. Jeannette became very upset and her mother doesn’t understand why. She doesn’t see how there is any reason why the kids needed to know that she was dead. Her grandmother died of leukemia and Jeannette’s mother said that they shouldn’t grieve because everybody dies at some point. Jeanette’s mother chose to inherit the adobe house in Phoenix’s business district. So they were moving into this house.

The house was practically a mansion with fourteen rooms including the kitchen and bathrooms. They had a huge yard with orange trees. The neighborhood was inhabited by mostly Mexicans and Indians in big houses that were split into apartments. All of the children went to Catholic Schools, but their mother and father didn’t believe in the ways of Catholic schooling. So, they enrolled in a fancy, public school called Emerson. All of them were put into gifted reading groups because of their ability to read. The nurse tested their eye sight and Lori had to get glasses, although Mom disagrees.

They took advantage of all the neighborhood had to offer and bought and sold many items to stay afloat. Mom opened an art studio in the house and Dad joined the electricians union. They even got a telephone. This didn’t last long though, because termites started to eat through the floorboards in the house.


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When Jeannette turns ten, she asks Rex for a very specific present: for him to quit drinking. Lori doesn’t believe that he will do it because he’s tried before and always fails. Jeannette, however, is optimistic. Rex locks himself in the bedroom to go through withdrawals and Jeannette is always by the door when she’s home to make sure he is okay.

It took 2 seasons for him to completely sober up and when he was they decided to move again. Jeannette encouraged him to speed on their drive which led to the car breaking down. Rex decided that they could easily walk back to the house in Phoenix to get the tools to fix the car, but it was over 80 miles. On their way, a woman stopped to pick them up and called them “poor people,” which seriously upset Jeannette. When they finally got home, Rex left and didn’t come home that night.