Summary

In the beginning of June 1967, the police came to the house to tell Carl that Camille had been struck and killed by an Ice Cream Truck called the Happy Cow. The next few days are a blur for Cecelia. Other than Cecelia and her father, the funeral was attended by Mrs. Odell and the woman who ran Goodwill, Dottie McGee. Most of it is still blank for Cecelia, although she remembers wondering if her prayers to God had caused this course of action. As they walk to the car afterwards, a red winged blackbird flies low over the cemetery and chirps as he disappears. Cecelia remembers how her mother had wanted to be a black bird so that she could fly back to Georgia. She asks Mrs. Odell what direction it flew in, and when she learns it was south, she can’t...