Shuggie Bain

Wullie is dying of cancer. After visiting hours, Lizzie waits with him in the hospital ward. In a desperate attempt to arouse his unconscious body, Lizzie climbs on top of him and grinds against him until a sympathetic nurse stops her. Agnes and Shuggie arrive. Agnes is drunk, and she laughs when the nurse, Sister Meechan, tells her what Lizzie did. Sister Meechan is stunned.

Agnes goes to her parents, and Shuggie stays briefly with the nurse to apologize and ask how a person gets to Heaven or Hell. Sister Meechan explains that it is a person’s spirit, not their body, that moves on. Shuggie is relieved. He asks, “So if your body doesn't go to heaven, it doesn't matter if another boy did something bad to it in a bin shed, right?” (181).

Agnes makes a melodramatic display of grief at the sight of her dying father. Lizzie chides Agnes about being late and drunk. Agnes claims she drank everything she had, and she will join Alcoholics Anonymous. Lizzie distrusts AA and thinks she should get over her addiction on her own. Despite this, Agnes produces two cans of lager and gives one to her mother. Agnes is in denial that her father is dying.