The Great Gilly Hopkins

A few days before Thanksgiving Day, Mr. Randolph, Maime Trotter, and William Ernest catch the flu. Mr. Randolph stays at Maime Trotter’s house because the flu is dangerous for people his age. Gilly is the only one who doesn’t get sick, so she takes care of everyone. The house is a mess and Gilly is exhausted when a stranger appears on the doorstep of Maime Trotter’s house on Thanksgiving Day. The “small, plump woman” (107) says she is Gilly’s grandmother. During their awkward conversation, she tells Gilly that her daughter Courtney never told her about Gilly. She also tells Gilly that the letter she recently received from Courtney telling her to check on Gilly was the first communication that they’ve had in thirteen years. William Ernest interrupts their conversation because he wet the bed. Gilly goes up to help him. When she comes back downstairs, her grandmother asks Gilly how they could have “put her in a place like this” (110). When Gilly is about to respond, Maime Trotter comes downstairs, disheveled from illness and weeping that the Thanksgiving turkey has spoiled. Gilly reassures her that the turkey is fine. Maime Trotter is exhausted and accidentally falls on Gilly.