One stormy night in November, when Maya is rereading Jane Eyre to the comforting smells of Momma cooking dinner, Mr. George Taylor comes to the Store, even though it has already closed for the night. Momma invites him inside, pitying him because just a few months earlier, his wife of 40 years, Mrs. Florida Taylor, had died. Maya remembers the woman well because she used to compliment the girl's complexion every time she came to the Store. Momma even made Maya attend the funeral because Mrs. Taylor left the girl a fake gold brooch in her will. At the funeral. Maya is overwhelmed by smells and moans and becomes aware of her own mortality for the first time.

Mr. Taylor, sitting by a warm stove, tells what Maya sees as a "ghost story" (158). A few nights ago, a laughing baby angel visited him, and he heard his deceased wife telling him that she wants some children. The story terrifies Maya so much that when Momma sends her to Uncle Willie's room to fetch a fork, the girl is so gripped by fear that it takes her a lot of effort to carry out the task.