The Usual Rules Chapter 22 Summary

  • Garrett and Wendy drive to San Francisco to see his mother, and along the way he warns her about the kind of person her grandmother is.
  • They get to the super fancy hotel early and Garrett calls his mother's hotel room before going outside to check on his car. Wendy is the one who greets her grandmother when she comes down.
  • Wendy immediately gets the distinct feeling that her grandmother would like her to be like another girl in the hotel—one with a crisp school uniform and a white blouse.
  • They decide to check out the Japanese garden before they eat, although her grandmother decides to wait in the cab because she hates Japanese people because of Pearl Harbor. We'd like to note that, Pearl Harbor or not, her hatred of Japanese people is also due to racism.
  • Wendy really likes the garden and wishes she could spend more time there looking at the ducks and having a snack.
  • When they're back in the cab, her grandmother asks her what clubs she belongs to and Wendy starts fibbing. She says she's in a stamp collecting club and a cactus club. Luckily, her dad thinks it's funny and plays along.
  • They have a buffet style Thanksgiving dinner at the hotel and eat all sorts of food. Garrett gets mad at his mother for commenting on Wendy's meal choices and how she's not watching her figure.
  • Then Garrett and his mother start arguing in earnest and he accuses her of being small-minded and miserable.
  • In the end, Garrett refuses to stay and says he'll pick up Wendy the following morning. So she goes to the ballet with her grandmother and stays the night at the hotel.