Chapters 16, 17 and 18 Summary

Dolores heads to Wellfleet at Cape Cod where the whales are beaching themselves. Domingos, a man who lives in Dottie's neighborhood, agrees to drive her there for $400. When they reach Wellfleet, Dominigos goes to the beach to see one of the whales. Dolores says she doesn't intend to go, but does and is amazed by the sheer mass of the beast. When the whale begins to writhe, Dolores screams until Domingos helps her back to his cab. When he drops Dolores at the motel, she discovers that he's left three of the $400 she agreed to pay him for driving her to Cape Cod. She begins to cry, saying that the best people always leave her. Dolores writes a postcard to her grandmother, saying that she simply couldn't take it anymore, then to her mother's childhood friend, Geneva. Then she tears up...