Summary

During Mass the narrator hears a grinding sound outside, then discovers Richard Gittens digging a large pit in the paddock to dispose of the dead mice. He explains the practical reasons for the location and shows her sacks of lime that will be thrown over the bodies before the pit is covered each day. Watching the dark gash in the earth, the narrator senses that the plague has entered a more disturbing phase, turning daily life into a cycle of killing, counting, and burial.

As the work continues, the narrator’s mind drifts into reflections prompted by the landscape and by the abbey’s history. She thinks about what she was taught in childhood about Aboriginal absence and recognizes how official stories can erase people. She hears of a nearby farmer who has shot himself and registers the death as part of the region...