A Taste of Blackberries

Mrs. Houser and the narrator’s mother take care of Martha and Jamie’s baby brother while his parents leave for the hospital. The narrator sits on the floor in his playroom to color with Martha, who excitedly tells him that Jamie got to ride in the ambulance. The narrator isn’t impressed: “That Jamie. He was an expert attention getter, even, when, maybe, he didn’t intend to be” (37). For a moment, the narrator fears that something might actually be wrong, but he quickly dismisses the thought.

Soon, however, the narrator learns that his gut instinct was right. His mom comes into the room to tell him that Jamie is dead. The narrator is stunned. He thinks, “‘Dead darling’ rang in my head. Jamie is dead, darling. Jamie is a dead darling” (39). The narrator is in denial, refusing to believe what his mom is telling him. She asks him to recount what happened, and suddenly the narrator feels terrible. He realizes that Jamie wasn’t pretending after all.

His mom explains that Jamie was allergic to bees and didn’t know it, which is why just a few stings were fatal for him.