The Great Alone

Large Marge arranges a flight for Cora and Leni to Seattle. Leni thinks about the gift Matthew planned to give her. It was a clipping from an article his grandmother wrote about Alaska, where she writes: “Wild. That’s how I describe it all. My love. My life. Alaska” (347). In Seattle, they go to Grandma and Grandpa Golliher’s house and tell them that Ernt is dead. Leni blurts out that she is pregnant and keeping the baby, but this time, the Gollihers accept the pregnancy.

That night, Leni climbs out into the roof, and her mom joins her. While Cora continues to blame herself for what happened, Leni blames her dad. Later, they go to the library at the University of Washington and look at Alaskan newspapers to discover that the authorities have declared them missing. Cora explains that according to her father, a lawyer, it might take seven years for authorities to legally declare them dead.

At night, Leni hears her mother talking to her grandparents. Her grandfather secures them falsified birth certificates. Cora is surprised at her strait-laced parents doing this, but they say they have all changed. They say they regret not listening to Cora when she was younger, and she replies that she regrets not listening to them.