ellen tells ruth about the sleepless nights and nightmares she has been having and asks ruth for her prescription barbiturate sleeping pills. ruth goes to get them for her, and ellen looks through her purse and finds a plane ticket to new york. ellen opens all of the capsules and dumps the powder into a sweetener packet and then puts the capsules back together, filling them with talcum powder. at ellen's birthday party, she asks richard to talk to her privately in another room, and she alludes to knowing what is going on between him and ruth. as they argue, he confronts her about danny's death. she admits to letting him drown because richard paid more attention to danny, than to her. richard hits her causing her to fall, and he storms out of the house. ruth and margaret come in to console her, and ruth stirs the sweetener, that is really the sleeping pill powder placed there by ellen, into iced tea that ellen drinks.