Demon reflects on his mother Louise Lamie’s overdose death and the unanswered question of whether it was suicide or a fatal miscalculation. He watches the town treat her funeral as a public shame, with people pitying him while judging Louise, and he carries a crushing anger that helps him stay upright.

The church service feels wrong to Demon because Louise hated churches after a brutal foster-home preacher, yet she lies in a cheap white casket and an ugly work dress. Stoner Stone stages himself as the grieving widower at Sinking River Baptist, soaking up sympathy, while Demon believes Stoner has no right to claim that place beside the casket.

The Peggots take Demon in around the funeral, quietly protecting him, dressing him, and trying to steady him. Even so, Demon feels newly transformed into “pitiful” and isolated, and he is haunted by the thought of how he acted toward Louise near the end, unable to retrieve his last moments with her from memory.

Urged by Mrs. Peggot, Demon goes up for a final viewing and is shocked by how angry Louise’s face looks in death. He also realizes his “little brother” is in the casket with her, which makes the loss feel like a theft and a waste rather than a clean ending.

After the long service, Demon rides alone in a “family” limo to the burial, listening to the driver and a flirtatious girl chatter as if nothing has happened, and he understands the world keeps turning regardless of grief. Louise is buried in Russell County in a plot with Stoner’s relatives, cutting Demon off from any connection to his father’s grave and making him feel unmoored. Demon then explains what “oxy” is—OxyContin’s early promise as safe pain relief—and frames Louise as an early, easily forgotten casualty whose life will be scrubbed away as others move on.