How It All Goes Down
Mrs. Grimes lived a tough life.
Born an orphan, she's forced into indentured servitude at a young age. Eventually, she's rescued by Jake Grimes, but that ends up being like going from the frying pan into the fire: Jake's a drunk, a thief, and an abusive husband. They have a son, but the little guy turns out to be just like ol' dad. Bummer.
When the story begins, the two Grimes men (we'll call them "The Grimers" for short) have just gone off on one of their booze-soaked crime sprees. That leaves poor Mrs. Grimes home alone to fend for herself. Oh yeah, and did we mention that it's the dead of winter? We open on Mrs. Grimes slowly walking towards town with her bone-thin dogs, eager to trade her few eggs for some meat and grain.
After getting a surprisingly large load, she cuts through the woods to get home faster. But it's getting colder now. She sits up against a tree to rest, but falls asleep. Time passes and she dies. The dogs surround her, then tear at her pack and eat the food. Afterwards, they drag her body into a clearing, accidentally tearing her clothes off in the process.
The body is discovered a few days later. A group of townsmen (with a younger version of our narrator tagging along) investigates and finds the body naked and frozen stiff, The narrator is so moved by the sight that he becomes obsessed with learning the old woman's story. Now, what he's told us might not exactly be accurate, but it's certainly an accurate reflection of what women like Mrs. Grimes endure every day.