Chapter Twenty-five

Summary

• Madeleine Wright is eating lunch when she receives a call with her father's postmortem results.
• The caller informs Madeleine that her father died from "distal large bowel obstruction," a complication from Parkinson's.
• Madeleine contacts her mother and brother, but after not being able to reach them, she puts on a comedy show to distract herself and tries to hide from her grief.
• Madeleine looks up information about grief, learning that there's no set timeline for feeling better and it gets easier over time rather than better.
• Madeleine's mother eventually calls to discuss funeral arrangements and specifies that both of them need to visit the funeral home to sign forms.
• The next day, Madeleine feels sick and experiences a panic attack, a symptom that has been recurring since her father's passing.
• Madeleine goes to her mother's house to make a call to the Register Office to register her father's death, but feels uncomfortable being in the house where her father died.
• During the call, the registrar gets her father's name wrong and asks irrelevant questions, which frustrates Madeleine.
• Madeleine loses her patience with the Registrar's slow process and slow gathering of information.
• An argument ensues between Madeleine and the Registrar, during which Madeleine lashes out in grief and frustration.
• Madeleine leaves her mother's house abruptly after suggesting her brother should help instead, feeling that neither her mother nor brother have been supportive.
• In a rush of emotion, Madeleine runs to catch a train and makes it just in time, jumping on and feeling relief as she escapes.
• Back at her own flat, Madeleine screams into a pillow and struggles with her anger and grief in private.
• She receives a text message from her mother, who says she's there for Madeleine and pleads for them to stick together during the difficult time.