Summary

Chapter Ten, “Ruth Fletcher – March 12, 1963” - In first-person, past-tense narration, recent widow Ruth Fletcher describes the circumstances of the death of her husband Claude (from emphysema a week or so beforehand); how Claude’s funeral had been delayed by the flood that had swept through Three Rivers; and how the funeral home where Claude’s funeral had been held was also the scene of another funeral – that of young mother Sunny O’Day and her baby daughter, both drowned in the flood. She describes her sadness at seeing Sunny O’Day’s daughter Annie looking so upset and lost, how worried she felt about the seeming controlling nature of Annie’s cousin Kent, and how Annie’s brother Donald seemed to be doing all right.

Ruth also reflects on how her stepdaughter Belinda Jean did not seem upset at her father’s...