Pie

The chapter begins with a description of Polly’s final, brief conversation with Alice, in which she twice speaks her personal mantra: “Thank you very much” (1).

Polly loved baking pies from her earliest childhood. Ipswitch residents proclaim her baking abilities, encouraging her to open her own pie shop. Carefully apportioning her inheritance from her parents, Polly opens PIE, a tiny downtown shop where she gives away every pie she makes. Soon, her reputation spreads throughout the nation. People bring her ingredients so she can bake and share pies.

When her sister Ruth has a daughter, Alice, Polly quickly bonds with her. Alice spends all her time baking with Polly, who sends her home each night with a new pie. Ruth, who believes her mother favored Polly over her, resents the closeness between her daughter and sister. She calls Polly selfish since she gives her pie away rather than selling the sought-after piecrust recipe. She says that when Polly “kicks the bucket” (9), Alice will figure out that Polly is no saint.

Because Polly’s pie shop draws many outsiders to Ipswitch, she becomes the engine driving the local economy. Citizens openly grieve for her and wonder how they will fare financially now that she is gone.