Maame

Maddie receives a text from her mother informing her that it is her and James’s responsibility to bury their father. Maddie’s mother knows money is tight but tells Maddie she can get a bank loan to help pay for the funeral. Maddie grows angry and accuses her of saddling her children with debt. She gathers her mother and James, and they argue about money. James wears expensive clothing but claims he doesn’t have much money to contribute to the funeral.

Maddie receives a phone call about her father’s postmortem results. Her father died of twisted intestines, a side effect of Parkinson’s. Maddie researches how to work through grief. Her mother continues to pressure her to pay for the funeral. Maddie and her mother get on the phone to register Maddie’s father’s death. The registrar asks many questions and gets so many details wrong about her father that Maddie grows angry and screams at her, alarming her mother. Maddie runs home and screams into her pillow. Her mother texts her, reminding her that they need to stick together in times of distress.