Summary

In Chapter 1, Dot Seeds wakes in the night. She is sleeping "beside her adult daughter, Jeanie" (3). It is snowing outside, though it is April. She goes down to the kitchen and feels a pain she cannot identify. A series of thoughts passes through her head. She falls "onto the kitchen sofa" (5). She pets the dog. Suddenly, all the "worries of seventy years" fade away (6).

In Chapter 2, Julius shakes his twin sister, Jeanie, awake. Downstairs, their mother is lying "face down on the floor" (7). Like the day in Priest's Field, Jeanie cannot look away (8). The twins realize it is too late to save her. Julius moves her body into the parlor. Jeanie regrets being unable to help him "because of her weak heart" (10). They discuss procuring the death certificate.

Dot and Frank Seed moved into the cottage after their marriage. The twins grew up...