How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
At first we thought that that sad pile of torn paper could be put back together like a puzzle. But it quickly turned out to be hopeless; the dried-out pieces broke in our hands, that old gravity furnace made it so hot up in my room, and so dry, that four winters had pretty much destroyed it.
After a while we both gave up; there was no way to get it all laid out and then tape it together."I'm so sorry, Karl," she said. Her eyes were clear and calm, like the Mom I remembered; I almost cried right then. (23.111-113)
Karl didn't just lose his dad—in the aftermath of his father's death, he lost his mom, and she became someone barely recognizable to him. The incident with tearing up the list, though, seems to bring her back to reality, providing a wake-up call of what she's actually done to her son.