The population of Grover’s Corner, New England, suffered a loss today as one of our town’s nicest residents, Emily Gibbs, died giving birth. Her husband, George Gibbs, commented “All she ever wanted was someone to love her.” Mrs. Webb, Emily’s mother, stated that “Things just weren’t the same since Emily went off to eat breakfast in someone else’s house at seventeen. I knew the way we send our girls off blind to be married was cruel, but I never expected this.” Joe Stoddard, undertaker, admits he’s “been busy supervising new-made graves” since he took his job. Townsfolk were pleasantly surprised at the return of one of their own, Sam Craig, who had left to seek his fortune west, outside Grover’s Corner. As Joe Stoddard commented “Gracious sakes alive! Of all people! I should’a knowed he’d be back for the funeral.”
Emily’s father, Mr. Webb, said he was sorry to lose his daughter, but what bothered him most was the favorite things she enjoyed he knew she was going to miss. He recited a list of things Emily would no longer enjoy: “Grover’s Corner, Mama and Papa, Clocks Ticking, Sunflowers, Food and Coffee, New-Ironed Dresses, Hot Baths, and Sleeping and Waking.” Simon Stimson was not sympathetic to the demise of Emily. He felt she was pretty blind while she was alive, “always at the mercy of one self-centered passion or another; always going up and down trampling on the feelings of those about her.”
Emily’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Gibbs was outraged over Simon Stimson’s callous remarks. She told us “That ain’t the whole truth, and he knows it!” Elsewhere in Grover’s Corner, things seemed to go as they typically do day to day. Shorty Hawkins was still at the depot watching the Albany train go by, men were still conversing late at night at the livery stable, and the stars were still making their criss-crossed
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