Everyone in This Room Will Someday be Dead

In Part 5, Gilda talks to Rosemary in person. Rosemary finds Gilda’s charade as Grace hilarious and reassures Gilda that Grace would have thought so too. Gilda explains that she “just [wants people] to smile,” and that she couldn’t bear making Rosemary sad (225). Rosemary understands, but says Gilda doesn’t understand that other people want her to be happy too.

Gilda establishes a daily routine, taking care of the mundane tasks that she’s been incapable of doing until now. She feeds herself in the morning, washes her dishes, and gets ready for work. She and Eleanor reconnect after the former explains her situation. The two sit outside of Gilda’s apartment as her landlord’s repairmen fix the place. Gilda has found a new appreciation for the innate beauty of existence. As the two women discuss how amazing the existence of dandelions is, Gilda discovers a cat underneath her steps. The cat is Mittens, the cat from the house fire that everybody believed died.