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Summary
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Small, Good Thing, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Joy and Tragedy
Family, Isolation, and Loss
Connection, Understanding, and Adversity
Compassion and Comfort
Summary
Analysis
It’s Saturday afternoon, and a woman flips through pictures of cakes at the local bakery. She settles on a chocolate birthday cake decorated in an outer space theme, with the birthday boy’s name, Scotty, written in green frosting. The baker, an older man, listens in silence as the woman rattles off these instructions and informs him that the birthday boy will be turning eight on Monday. Since the baker will be at the shop all night baking, he isn’t in a hurry, so he lets the woman talk.
The woman is clearly excited about her son’s birthday—she takes care in choosing a special cake for her son and having his name written on it. She tells the baker that her son is turning eight because it feels like an important milestone to her, and she wants to share it. The baker, on the other hand, is treating this interaction as being only about business. He lets her talk about her son only because he has time for her at this point in his workday, not because he’s interested in getting to know her and her son. Right away, this hints that the woman may not have a lot of social connection or support in her life, as she’s sharing news with a complete stranger rather than a close friend or family member.
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The woman, Ann Weiss, gives her name and phone number, and the baker informs her that the birthday cake will be ready for pickup on Monday morning, before Scotty’s birthday party in the afternoon. It makes Ann uneasy that the baker isn’t “jolly” and warm—he doesn’t reciprocate her attempts at small talk, and even his facial features look gruff and unfriendly.
Ann dislikes being rebuffed by the baker because she feels that strangers like him should be friendly and even “jolly.” She assumes that other people should have the same desire to communicate that she does, and she fails to consider what else might be going on in the baker’s life. In this way, Ann and the baker are unable to connect with each other because of Ann’s presumptions about how people should act. This failure, combined with the baker’s gruff appearance, leads Ann to hastily (and perhaps unfairly) judge the baker as being unfriendly.
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Ann is 33 years old and a mother, and she assumes that everyone has experienced this “special time of cakes and birthday parties” in their children’s lives. She thinks that the baker, who looks old enough to be her father, must have been through this stage of life with his own kids, and that Ann and the baker have that in common. But nevertheless, the baker continues to be short with her—“not rude, just abrupt.” Eventually, Ann stops trying to be friendly with him. He finishes logging the order and reminds her again that pickup is Monday morning, and she leaves.
On Monday morning, Scotty is walking to school with a friend. The boys are passing a bag of potato chips back and forth, and Scotty steps off the curb without looking. He’s immediately hit by a car, and he falls with his head in the gutter and his legs in the street. The driver looks back and waits until Scotty gets up to drive away. Scotty seems to be alright but is slightly dazed by the fall.
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Scotty doesn’t cry, but he doesn’t say much, either. Instead of going on to school, he walks home and tells his mother what happened. Ann is sitting with him on the sofa, asking him if he’s alright and thinking she’ll call the doctor anyway, when Scotty suddenly lies back and goes limp. When Ann can’t wake Scotty up, she calls her husband, Howard, at work, who tells her to stay calm. Howard quickly calls an ambulance and leaves work for the hospital.
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Scotty is in the hospital with a mild concussion and shock, so his birthday party is cancelled. Earlier, he vomited and had his lungs pumped out, and now he’s in a very deep sleep—though his doctor, Dr. Francis, is adamant that it’s not a coma. At 11:00 p.m., Howard decides to go home to bathe and change clothes, and he assures Ann that he’ll be back in an hour. Meanwhile, Ann continues to watch Scotty and feels like she can’t relax until he wakes up.
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Howard drives recklessly on the way home, but he forces himself to slow down. He thinks about how easy his life has been so far. His parents are still alive, and his siblings are doing well. He has a family, an advanced business degree, and a junior partnership in an investment firm. He is content, and he knows he’s “lucky.” He’s avoided the kinds of tragedies that could “cripple or bring down a man.” Howard pulls into the driveway and his leg begins to tremble. Trying to be logical, he tells himself that Scotty will be alright.
The telephone is ringing as Howard unlocks the door to the house. He thinks the call must be about Scotty’s condition, and he regrets leaving the hospital. But the call isn’t from the hospital—the voice on the other end says there’s a $16 cake that hasn’t been picked up. Frazzled and confused, Howard says that he doesn’t know anything about a cake, but the voice snaps, “Don’t hand me that,” and hangs up.
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Howard then pours a glass of whiskey and calls the hospital, but Scotty’s condition hasn’t changed. After shaving, Howard sinks into the bathtub, but the phone rings again. Waddling through the house in a towel, Howard berates himself for leaving the hospital, again assuming that the call is about Scotty. But when he answers the phone, the caller immediately hangs up.
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When Howard gets back to the hospital after midnight, Ann is still sitting by Scotty’s bedside. There’s a bottle of glucose running into Scotty’s arm through a tube, and Ann explains that the doctor said Scotty needed nourishment. Ann doesn’t understand why Scotty won’t wake up, but Howard assures her that their son will be okay, and that Dr. Francis knows what he’s doing.
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Howard encourages Ann to go home and rest, but he warns her about “this creep” who keeps calling the house. Ann asks who it is, but Howard doesn’t know—it’s probably someone with nothing else to do. Ann refuses to go home, but Howard continues to say that she should, reminding her that Dr. Francis has everything under control.
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A nurse comes in and checks on Scotty. She says that he’s stable, and that the doctor will be in to see him soon. Howard tells the nurse that he’s been encouraging Ann to go home and rest after Dr. Francis makes his rounds, and the nurse says that they should feel free to do so. Ann explains that she’s anxious to speak with the doctor, because she doesn’t think that Scotty should be sleeping like this. As the nurse leaves the room, Howard massages Ann’s neck to comfort her. But as he watches Scotty breathe, he begins to feel really afraid for the first time since he got the call from Ann about the accident. He sternly tells himself that Scotty is going to be fine.
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Dr. Francis comes in and greets Ann and Howard. He checks Scotty and writes on the chart. Howard asks what’s the matter with Scotty, and Ann asks why he won’t wake up. The doctor is handsome and wearing a suit. He says that Scotty will be fine, but he could be better—he wishes Scotty would wake up and then says that Scotty “should wake up pretty soon.” Scotty is fine, except for a hairline fracture on his skull and a mild concussion. This kind of sleeping sometimes happens in shock cases.
Howard asks if this is a coma, but Dr. Francis says that he wouldn’t call it that—it’s more of a restorative sleep. When Ann suggests that “It’s a coma […] Of sorts,” the doctor explains that a coma is prolonged over days or weeks, and Scotty isn’t in that condition, or at least not yet. He says he’s “certain” and “betting” that Scotty will wake up soon, and Ann shouldn’t worry. She and Howard should both feel free to leave the hospital if they need to.
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Ann feels Scotty’s forehead and is concerned that he’s so cold. Howard says that Scotty is just in shock, and Dr. Francis would’ve said something if he wasn’t okay. Howard holds Ann’s hand for a while. Ann tells him she’s been praying for Scotty, and that she hadn’t prayed in so long she’d nearly forgotten how. She suggests that Howard should pray, too, but he says that he already has. Ann feels for the first time that she and her husband are in this together—up until now, she felt like this situation was only affecting her and Scotty.
A radiologist comes in to take Scotty for another scan. Ann protests—she thought they’d done all the X-rays they needed to. But the radiologist says that they need to do more, and they also need to do a brain scan. Ann is worried, but the radiologist assures her that “it’s perfectly normal procedure in cases like this.” Ann and Howard accompany the orderlies, who’ve put Scotty on a gurney, to the scan. When it’s over, Ann and Howard take the elevator back up and return to Scotty’s bedside.
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Ann and Howard wait all day, and Scotty still doesn’t wake up. When Dr. Francis does his rounds, he affirms again that Scotty will wake up at any time. A woman from the lab comes to take some of Scotty’s blood. Ann doesn’t understand why they’re doing tests, but the woman says that she just does what she’s told. She asks what happened to Scotty, and Howard explains that he was hit by a car. When the woman is gone, Ann says, “I want some answers from these people.” Howard says nothing and closes his eyes to take a nap.
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Meanwhile, Ann goes to the window and looks out at the parking lot. She sees a woman getting into a car and wishes she was that woman—that she could drive away and find Scotty waiting for her someplace else. Later, Howard wakes and joins Ann at the window. They understand each other without saying anything, because “the worry [has] made them transparent.”
When Dr. Francis returns—this time wearing a different suit—he says that Scotty should’ve woken by now, and he doesn’t know why he’s still unconscious. He says that all of Scotty’s vital signs are fine, so he still thinks that Scotty will wake up soon. This time, when Ann says that it’s a coma, the doctor says that they’ll call it that until Scotty wakes up. When Dr. Francis offers to have a nurse stationed in the room so that Howard and Ann can go get something to eat, Ann replies that she can’t eat anything. As the doctor leaves, he says that Scotty will be “over the hill” once he wakes up.
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Howard suggests that one of them should go to the house and feed the dog. Ann says that they can call the neighbors and tell them to feed the dog, but Howard insists that she should go. Finally, she agrees, hoping that Scotty will finally wake up if she stops watching him. Ann understands that Howard wants to be alone for a while and not have to talk about his worries.
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After some more hesitation, Ann finally leaves Scotty’s hospital room, but she gets lost while looking for the elevator. She ends up in a small waiting room, where a “Negro family”—a woman, a man, and a teenaged girl—is sitting. The mother quickly gets up when she sees Ann and asks if there’s news about Franklin. Ann explains that she was just looking for the elevator, and the man gives her directions. Feeling compelled to explain herself, Ann tells the man that her son was hit by a car. He has a “little skull fracture” and there “might be some kind of coma,” Ann explains, but he’ll be fine.
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The man tells Ann that his son, Franklin, is in surgery after being stabbed during a fight that he was watching at a party, and now the family is hoping and praying. Ann wants to talk more to these people, who are “in the same kind of waiting she was in,” but she doesn’t know how to begin. She leaves.
When Ann gets home, she feeds the dog and makes tea. The phone rings, and she asks if it’s about Scotty. The caller says it “has to do with Scotty” and asks Ann if she’s forgotten, then hangs up. Ann calls the hospital and demands to know how her son is, and then she asks to speak to Howard. She tells Howard that someone called and said it was about Scotty, but Howard says there’s been no change in Scotty’s condition.
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Howard then advises Ann to ignore the call and come back to the hospital when she’s rested. Then, they can speak with the doctor, who’s coming at eight that morning. Ann says that there was a noise in the background on the phone call she got, but Howard can’t remember if there was a sound in the background of his call. He says that the caller must be a psychopath who found out about Scotty somehow. He advises Ann to take a bath and come back.
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When Ann drives back to the hospital later that morning, she thinks about Franklin’s family. She pictures the teenaged girl and thinks of telling her not to have children. But when Ann gets to the hospital, the family is gone—the only traces of them are the fast-food wrappers and cigarette butts they left behind. Ann asks the nurse about Franklin, and the nurse says tells her that he died. The nurse asks if Ann is a friend of the family, and Ann says no, she’d just met them and wondered, because her own son is in the hospital.
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In the hospital room, Howard is standing at the window and turns when Ann comes in. Ann asks how Scotty is, and Howard says that Dr. Francis came by early in the morning with a neurologist. When Ann demands to know what they said, Howard explains that they think they’re going to operate, but he then corrects himself, affirming that “they are going to operate.” They can’t figure out what’s wrong with Scotty, but it’s something to do with his skull fracture. Howard tried to call Ann earlier about it, but she’d already left the house. “Oh God,” Ann says.
Suddenly, Howard notices that Scotty has opened his eyes, then closed them. When Scotty opens them again, he stares straight ahead for a moment, then looks at his parents, then away again. Ann and Howard move to the bed and speak to Scotty, squeezing his hand and kissing his forehead. Scotty stares blankly back at them without recognition. Then, his eyes scrunch closed, and he howls until he’s completely out of breath. His face relaxes, and he dies.
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The doctors say that Scotty suffered from a hidden occlusion, and that it’s a rare circumstance. Maybe they could’ve saved him if they’d operated immediately, but probably not, since all of Scotty’s tests looked normal and the doctors wouldn’t have known what to look for. Dr. Francis, shaken, tells Ann and Howard how sorry he is. He takes them into a doctor’s lounge, where another doctor is sitting in delivery room scrubs, but the doctor leaves when he sees them enter. Dr. Francis embraces Ann while Howard weeps in the bathroom with the door open. When Howard stops crying, he makes some calls. Dr. Francis asks if there’s anything else he can do, and Howard shakes his head.
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Dr. Francis walks Ann and Howard out of the hospital. Ann says that she doesn’t want to leave Scotty there—it feels wrong. Hearing how this statement sounds, she thinks it’s unfair that it seems like something a character on television show would say after a death. She wants to use her own words. “For some reason,” Ann thinks of Franklin’s mother’s head falling onto her shoulder. Dr. Francis says that there are still some questions to clear up, and Howard asks if they’re doing an autopsy. Dr. Francis nods. Howard says he understands, but then says, “Oh, Jesus. No, I don’t understand, doctor.” Dr. Francis says that he’s very sorry. He holds Ann, and she thinks that he’s full of goodness.
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When the couple gets home, Howard begins to put some of Scotty’s things in a box, but he breaks down and cries. Ann puts his head in her lap and says, “He’s gone and now we’ll have to get used to that. To being alone.” Later, Ann calls her family. During each call she speaks quickly, then cries for a minute, then explains what happened and the arrangements. Howard goes outs to the garage with the box of Scotty’s things and sees Scotty’s bicycle. He kneels beside it in grief.
The phone rings, and Ann answers. The voice says, “Your Scotty, I got him ready for you,” and then asks Ann if she’s forgotten. She calls him an “evil bastard.” After midnight, the phone rings again. Howard answers it, but the caller hangs up. Ann says she’d like to shoot the caller, to which Howard says, “Ann, my God.” Ann asks again if there was noise in the background, and Howard says that there was a radio playing. Ann suddenly realizes that it was the baker calling about the cake this whole time. She asks Howard to drive her to the bakery so that she can confront the baker.
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When Ann and Howard get to the shopping center, it’s dark, but the lights are still on in the back room of the bakery. They knock on the front door, but the baker doesn’t seem to hear. Then, they drive around the back and knock on the back door, and the baker lets them in. He says that they’re closed for business and asks what the couple wants. Given that it’s midnight, he asks if they’re drunk, but then he recognizes Ann. She reminds him that she’s Scotty’s mother.
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The baker asks Ann if she wants the cake now, since it’s been sitting here for three days. Ann is very angry, and her anger makes her feel bigger than the men in the room with her. The baker says that he doesn’t want to argue, and he’ll give the cake to her at half price. He busy, and he spent time and money on that cake. The baker works 16 hours a day, and at night. Ann points out that he makes phone calls at night too, and she calls him a “bastard.” The baker looks at Howard and says, “careful, careful.”
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Ann tells the baker that her son is dead, and that they’ve been at his bedside this whole time. She's angry, and she says spitefully that the baker couldn’t have known that her son was dying. Suddenly, her anger goes away, and she begins to cry, saying that it isn’t fair. Howard looks at the baker and says, “Shame on you.”
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The baker comes out from behind the counter and gets chairs for Ann and Howard, inviting them to sit down. Ann tells the baker that she wanted to kill him when he was calling. Joining the couple at the table, the baker apologizes. He explains that he’s just a baker, and maybe once he was a different kind of person, but he’s forgotten how to be that person. He has no children of his own, so he can’t imagine what Ann and Howard are going through. He asks them to forgive him. He tells the couple that he’s not a bad person, but he no longer knows how to act.
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The baker then gets up to make coffee for Ann and Howard, and he gives them hot buttered cinnamon rolls. He says they have to eat and go on, explaining that “eating is a small, good thing in a time like this.” Ann is suddenly hungry, and she eats three rolls. Sitting with the couple, the baker tells them about his loneliness, doubts, and limitations. Ann and Howard are tired, but they listen. He tells them about the endless weddings and birthdays he’s baked for, and how he appreciates being able to feed people. The baker then gives the couple a loaf of delicious dark bread, and they eat what they can. Ann and Howard stay at the bakery until the morning, talking and eating with the baker.
