Summary

In Chapter 27, “Typhus,” Lourdes is still unable to find Kazumasa. Meanwhile, two “feather cultists” (180) die while attempting to fly. Bodies continue to be found: clutching feathers, skidding across abandoned highways, impaled on tree branches (181). When Mané Pena recognizes one of the names on the list of dead, Mané wonders if all these deaths are not really suicide. Government officials declare a typhus epidemic. Meanwhile, the matacao becomes the site of a huge vigil. Radio Chico shifts from tracking pilgrims’ movements to tracking the spread of disease. The death of two of their children reunites Mané Pena and his wife, and in less than a week, Mané Pena also dies of the same disease. Mané is buried with shoes.

Chapter 28, “Carnival,” opens with a scene of Gislaine and Rubens in captivity. They do not know why they have been kidnapped. Radio...