In which Ted and Ted'sWife are so grabby that they almost make Jack cry and he leaves because he cannot stand how they are acting

You guys! I can't believe I didn't write about this part. (I am writing this in December, realizing I left out so much when I wrote the other posts in August.)

1. Ted and TW came over to Sly and Doris' house after lunch. They called Stephanie and Jack's son and told him he could take care of his cousin, Ted and TW's son, while Ted and TW did stuff at Sly and Doris'.

They do that. They dump their kid on other people without asking. They call Stephanie and tell her how much their son wants to be with his cousins, which is true, but their solution is not for the cousins to join them but for their son to stay with Stephanie and her kids. Ted'sSon cannot be unsupervised. It is not fair to ask a recent college graduate to assume that responsibility. But they do it.

2. TW suggests that we throw things away, which is great. But then she starts dibbsing things she wants to take home, like an old dresser in Doris' room. Ted starts dibbsing things he wants to take home. They want things like dressers and bookshelves.

I stay in the kitchen with Jack, throwing away all of the spices and half the food and putting the rest in bags for Stephanie. Jack and I want nothing to do with the dibbsing, except I do say a few times, "Maria and [my nephew] have just finished college and will be setting up apartments. Maybe they should have these things."

But Ted and TW's are all excited about old, not very nice furniture.

"Let's have this bookcase shipped home," he suggests to his wife.

I can't keep my mouth shut. "That's going to cost a lot of money!"

He shrugs. "The estate will pay for it."

Now I really can't keep my mouth shut. "I don't think estates usually pay for that kind of thing," I say.

"Oh sure it will!" he answers. "TW's mother's estate is paying to ship things to us."

TW's mother is not dead. What is really happening is that TW's mother is paying.

3. We are in Sly and Doris's bedroom. TW picks up a purse, opens it, pulls out the wallet, starts rifling through the wallet, pulling out photos, etc.

"Whose wallet is this?" she asks in curiosity.

Then she sees the driver's license. "Oh! Doris!"

Primo's voice is ice cold as he puts out his hand. "That's my mother's purse. Give. It. To. Me. Please."

4. We spend hours cleaning and throwing away. I have not bathed. Primo has not bathed. We are all going out to dinner. I wait for Ted and TW's to leave so Primo and I can bathe and dress and go to the restaurant.

"But they're staying here until it's time to go to the restaurant," he says.

"What!" I hiss. "They need to LEAVE! There is no way for me to get from the bathroom to the guest room unseen. I don't want to have to take all my clothes into the bathroom!"

TW's opens a bottle of wine and sits down.

I guess they are not leaving.