Summary

In Chapter 2, Vesta and Charlie drive to Bethsmane, passing a neighboring convenience store owned by a man with a badly scarred face. Supposedly he was accidentally shot in the face. Thinking of Pastor Jimmy, Vesta does not know if she believes in accidents. At Save-Rite, she leaves Charlie in the car. Inside, she feels disgusted by everyone she sees. Knowing she does not fit in, Vesta thinks of Magda again; Magda would not have fit in either. She decides Magda's life must have been quite bad for her to want to stay in Levant. She relates to Magda in this way, both strangers in Levant (56). Vesta was born in Valtura, on the Adriatic. Walter saved her from her parents' "peasant life" (57).

She then imagines what it would have been like to be Magda's mother. She and Walter had never wanted children. She laments Magda's...