How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I wanted to explain to Grandma how she needed me here. I'd fuss about her if I wasn't here to see how she was. But she'd just spent days working herself into the ground to prove I was only in her way. She'd been helping me leave for a week. (7.96)
Grandma Dowdel has already anticipated what Mary Alice is going to say—and her reasons for wanting to stay. So she makes it a point to show her granddaughter that she's still as strong and hardy as ever, and doesn't need her help. Even though there's a big part of her that would love to keep her granddaughter around.
Quote #8
"Grandma, was I too much trouble?"
That went too far. But I was her granddaughter, and she'd taught me everything I knew, and I liked to win…
"What would your paw think if I kept you?" she said finally. "I don't want your maw after me." (7.100-103)
Mary Alice is her grandmother's granddaughter, and she's not about to give up so easily. She guilts her grandmother into telling the truth (more or less)—that she doesn't want Mary Alice to leave, but that she knows it's better for her to go home to Chicago.
Quote #9
That meant I could come back whenever I could manage it. And she was telling me to go. She knew the decision was too big a load for me to carry by myself. She knew me through and through. She had eyes in the back of her heart. (7.107)
Because it's so hard for Mary Alice to make the choice to leave, Grandma Dowdel steps in and makes it for her. She tells her to go home to Chicago, and that she'll always have a place here if she wants to come and visit.