As bedridden Geraldine struggles to heal physically and emotionally, Joe, feeling stressed out about the lack of progress on the case, distracts himself by hanging out out with his friends Cappy, Zack, and Angus. Curiously, Geraldine refuses to tell Bazil or law enforcement anything about the rape or the rapist, even though it seems like she knows his identity. The next week, Geraldine, who is terrified to go outside, stays in her bed all day while Joe and Bazil read to her and bring her food that Joe’s aunt Clemence has prepared. The police take statements from Geraldine and Bazil, and Geraldine has surgery before Geraldine, Joe, and Bazil go home. At the hospital, Joe slowly begins to understand that Geraldine has been violently raped. Bazil, immediately realizing that something is wrong, drives Geraldine to the hospital with Joe. Joe and Bazil, relieved, head home, only to find Geraldine still sitting in her car, covered in vomit and blood and smelling like gasoline. They are on the highway when Geraldine speeds past them going back to the house. After a while, they realize that Geraldine, Joe’s mother, has not yet come home. As the novel begins, Joe and his father, Bazil, who works as a tribal judge, are weeding saplings out from the foundation of their house.
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