Summary

This section opens with a flashback from Margery’s childhood, as she recounts her father’s abusive behavior when he would drink. Even her grandparents would not do anything to stop the beatings. “Don’t you marry one of these fools,” her mother would tell her (67). Margery’s father was killed years later as part of a blood feud with the McCullough family, and she “didn’t shed so much as a tear” (67). He had been a moonshiner, Margery tells Alice, and had killed many people in his life. She shows Alice a scar she got when she was younger from her father shooting her in the arm with a hunting rifle. When Alice is surprised that the police did not pick him up, Margery explains that people around here liked to take care of things themselves.

On her route, Alice stops at...