"I've been looking in all the pubs for you," she said in her old shrill voice. It was typical of her to say "all the pubs" when there were only two in the place. She always wanted credit for trouble she hadn't really taken.

I was annoyed and I couldn't help speaking a little harshly. "You might have saved yourself the trouble," I said, "you should have known I wouldn't be in a pub on a fine night like this." 

The old vixen became quite humble. She was always smooth enough when she wanted anything. "It's for my poor son," she said. That meant that he was ill. When he was well I never heard her say anything better than "that dratted boy." She'd make him be in the house by midnight every day of the week, as if there were any serious mischief a man could get up to in a little village like ours. Of course we soon found a way to cheat her, but it was the principle of the thing I objected to -- a grown man of over thirty ordered about by his mother, just because she hadn't a husband to control. But when he was ill, though it might be with only a small

• Why was she searching the pubs for this person?
• Does this person have some sort of special powers that the woman needs to help her son?
• The mother seems just to be concerned for her boy even though he's over thirty and can take care of himself. However this guy makes the mother sound like a terrible strict old woman.
• I find this section quite odd because the narrator is talking to the old woman in quite a harsh way..
• I now understand that the narrator seems to be friends with the son of the women he dislikes and feels sympathy for him. He also holds the women in little regard and finds her to be bossy and annoying. Evidently the mother cares for her son in some respects or she would not be asking the narrator of anything in the instance of her sons illness.
• From the way the woman is being described I would guess that the speaker is a friend or a girlfriend of the bad woman's son. The speaker is continuing to build our impression that the woman is a bad person.
• The person and the woman seem to be pretty close to each other by the way they talk to one another. You can tell this person is not fond of this woman. The woman is described as controlling by the narrator, like when they say that she orders around her son that is over thirty years old.
• Obviously the person in this story hates the woman, and it seems that most people don't care for this woman either. Also I wonder if she's poor or something like that because it seems like the woman has asked or wanted things from him before. It's also interesting that at the end of this passage you find out that her son is actually a 30 year old man, and that she doesn't have a husband, and that her son lives with her.
• So far this seems a little less mad than "A Tell-Tale Heart" was.
• The fact that this woman is controlling her sons life at the age of thirty is rather weird. The guy describes his town as a very peaceful without any trouble.
• So now we understand the narrator is a human. we also know the wretched women has a son. we have to question is this the same boy with the vice grip? what is he illl with? is the narrator a doctor, a guru? why is she seeking the narrator out?
• A small what?  Why does section two end on a broken sentence?  Well, I suppose I'll figure that all out when I'm done with this section, won't I?
• Why is it worth mentioning to the author / narrator (I'll call him narrator from now on, just in case) that this lady's son has fallen ill?  Also, if the narrator has participated in tom-foolery, I think its safe to say that he himself is quite young. 
• I'm starting to get a general picture of the village / town / city (?) that they live in, if the place only has two pubs. 
• So, I'm beginning to learn more about this "shrill" old lady.  Is she abusive?  Does she neglect her son?  She's obviously quite manipulative if the narrator thinks its worth noting that "She was always smooth enough when she wanted anything."  So, obviously this lady is crafty, and quite perhaps slightly maniacal? 
• As I read along I am questioning who the narrator is. Is he a doctor, a friend of the son, a "friend" of the woman? Why is she going to him for her sick son? Im interested to find out more.
• It seems that this man and woman may have a past because she shows that she cares about him because shes been looking for him everywhere, and he has been trying to avoid him. Her son could possibly be his son and this is why she is talking about it with him.
• The author hope we'll side with the narrator in thinking that the women is an awful lady. The author expects us to react by thinking that the women is needy and controlling over her son.
• I want to know what their relationship is, the man and the woman's and the man and her son's, because it sounds like he might be friends with her son.
• What is the relationship between the man and the woman, the man and the son, and the woman and the son? It appears that the man and the son may be correlated somehow (know each other, etc.)
• I am wondering how well he actually knows this woman and why he seems to be concerned about her son. It appears that they have a past, and she came to him for help. Also I am wondering why she no longer had a husband, and who the boys father is.
• to me it first seems like this lady wants praise, although her son being older, still treats him like a child. This paragraph tells me that the son is ill. Considering the mother has no one but the ill son, if he is the one who dies, may throw her off the handle
• It seems kind of weird that she would be looking for him in the pubs.  Maybe he is an alcoholic and that's what happened in their past.  Maybe they were together for a really long time and he turned into a psycho alcoholic and ruined their relationship?
• I think now it is more clear who the characters are. They are mother and son. The story said that the mother doesn't have a husband and she is living with her 30 year-old son. I think she pampered him and overprotect him.