All My Puny Sorrows

The day after Yoli tells Elf her plans for Zurich, Lottie informs Yoli that the hospital is giving Elf “a day pass” so that she can “celebrate her birthday” at home (255). Nic will pick her up and Lottie will order her a cake. That morning, Yoli and Nora play tennis together for several hours. While eating ice cream afterward, Nic calls Yoli to inform her that Elf died by suicide. He hasn’t been able to contact Lottie yet. Back at home, Yoli receives several calls from the hospital. Eventually, she talks to the executive director, who expresses her condolences. Yoli gets upset, furious that the hospital discharged Elf at all. Afterward, Yoli calls Will and Barry with the news. Finally, she gets hold of Lottie, who is at home alone waiting for the family to come into town.

Yoli and Nora go to Winnipeg. Nic meets them there. At the house, Nic informs them that, after he picked up Elf from the hospital, they went out for lunch. Afterward, she asked Nic to pick up some books at the library for her. Yoli silently muses on how clever Elf was to make this request so that she could be alone.