In Chap­ter Ten of “The Berry Pick­ers,” titled “Nor­ma,” the pro­tag­o­nist, Nor­ma, reflects on the after­math of her sep­a­ra­tion from Mark. As she walks through their once-shared home, emp­ty walls remind her of a life filled with mem­o­ries over­shad­owed by loss and the impend­ing divorce. Mark has returned to Boston, per­plexed by she deci­sion, and their last con­ver­sa­tions high­light the grow­ing dis­tance between them. Even­tu­al­ly, Mark takes his belong­ings and leaves, and Nor­ma is left to con­front the rem­nants of their life togeth­er, includ­ing wed­ding mem­o­ra­bil­ia she is hes­i­tant to part with.

Unex­pect­ed­ly, Aunt June and Alice vis­it while Nor­ma packs for a new chap­ter in her life. Caught off guard by their pres­ence, she shares the truth about her sep­a­ra­tion, though she fears their reac­tion due to the facade of hap­pi­ness they believed exist­ed in her mar­riage. Aunt June pro­pos­es a fab­ri­cat­ed sto­ry to explain the split, indica­tive of the dis­com­fort sur­round­ing the truth.

The nar­ra­tive explores the con­trasts between grief and the process of mov­ing for­ward. Nor­ma acknowl­edges the pain of los­ing Mark, but insists it does not eclipse the pro­found sor­row of los­ing her child, Sarah. As the trio dis­cuss­es per­son­al strength and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, Alice encour­ages Nor­ma to embrace her own resilience and not let her moth­er’s past dic­tate her future.

The chap­ter also cap­tures moments of sim­ple joy—sharing food and laugh­ter with Aunt June and Alice, which punc­tu­ate the lay­ers of grief. Dur­ing a planned week­end with fam­i­ly at a cab­in on a lake, Nor­ma pre­pares to reveal the truth to her par­ents about her divorce. When final­ly shar­ing the news, the atmos­phere shifts. The reac­tions of her par­ents reveal exist­ing ten­sions and unre­solved emo­tions relat­ed to her past loss.

As the chap­ter pro­gress­es, Nor­ma nav­i­gates famil­ial expec­ta­tions, her moth­er’s anguish over her father’s death, and the com­plex­i­ties of her own grief. The sto­ry cul­mi­nates in reflec­tions about secrets, mem­o­ries, and the deeply inter­twined nature of love and loss, leav­ing the read­er to pon­der the bur­den of silence that often accom­pa­nies famil­ial rela­tion­ships and the lega­cies of the past .