In Chap­ter 123 of “All the Col­ors of the Dark,” the sto­ry unfolds dur­ing Thanks­giv­ing, where Saint spends two days at home with her grand­moth­er, Nor­ma. The chap­ter cap­tures a moment of famil­ial con­nec­tion as they pre­pare a tra­di­tion­al feast. While Jim­my, who has been drink­ing, occu­pies him­self with foot­ball, Saint busies her­self cook­ing a vari­ety of dish­es includ­ing a roast­ed turkey and sides like mashed pota­toes and green bean casse­role.

As they sit togeth­er at the table in their moun­tain abode, a light-heart­ed moment ensues with Nor­ma jok­ing about but­tered bis­cuits, high­light­ing her con­cern for Jim­my’s well-being, which is com­pound­ed by his weight gain since Saint was­n’t around to pre­pare his meals. The nar­ra­tive then shifts to a more inti­mate scene on the back porch where Nor­ma and Saint share a brandy. Here, Saint leans on her grand­moth­er, enveloped in a blan­ket, as they engage in a heart­felt dis­cus­sion about life, love, and the bur­dens of mas­culin­i­ty that weigh on Jim­my.

Nor­ma express­es her wor­ries for both Saint and Jim­my, voic­ing a con­cern for the fragili­ty of the male ego. Their con­ver­sa­tion address­es deep­er themes—love as an ephemer­al vis­it and the ten­den­cy for men to stray from their core val­ues. When Saint hes­i­tates to affirm her choic­es, Nor­ma’s per­sis­tent ques­tions reveal the ten­sion in their rela­tion­ship.

The chap­ter reflects a poignant mix of nos­tal­gia and pain, as Saint recalls a time when evenings seemed end­less. Nor­ma’s reflec­tions on the past—particularly on the strug­gles they face due to exter­nal influ­ences and wor­ries for loved ones—showcase the com­plex­i­ties of fam­i­ly dynam­ics. As they reflect on sac­ri­fices made for one anoth­er, espe­cial­ly con­cern­ing Jim­my, the chap­ter clos­es with a rev­e­la­tion about the impor­tance of rec­og­niz­ing beau­ty in the world and the strug­gles of youth, leav­ing read­ers with a sense of unre­solved ten­sion and the long­ing for con­nec­tion.