What does Junior's mother do at his Grandmother's funeral?

Junior's mother gives her opinion of the white millinionaire's condescending attitude.... by laughing.

"And then my mother started laughing," Junior says. "And that set us all off. It was the most glorious noise I've ever heard. And I realized that, sure, Indians were drunk and sad and displaced and crazy and mean but, dang, we knew how to laugh. When it comes to death, we know that laughter and tears are pretty much the same thing. And so, laughing and crying, we said goodbye to my grandmother. And when we said goodbye to one grandmother, we said goodbye to all of them. Each funeral was a funeral for all of us. We lived and died together."