Southern Funeral Favorites
- On his way back from Frog Creek, Ben pedals as slowly as possible. He's so down about what happened to those men, he can't find the motivation to do any more.
- When he gets back to the inn, he learns from Maybelle that Elizabeth came by to see him.
- He also has some mail. Much to his surprise, there's a letter from Meg.
- Ben is overjoyed as he opens it. In it, Meg shares that she's been doing extra housework since Mazie's been off taking care of her sister (who drinks too much).
- Aside from that, though, everything is good, and the girls really miss him.
- Then she tells him what the letter is about. She's leaving him, plain and simple.
- Things haven't worked for a while now, and there's no point in belaboring it, so she's going to move in with her dad.
- At first, Ben can't believe it—he must have read the letter wrong—so he reads it over and over again, until he can force himself to believe his wife is leaving him.
- On the back of the note is one from his little girls. They say they miss him and want him to come home soon. Aw.