The Plague Of Doves

This chapter is written as a newsletter from Cordelia to the town. As president of Pluto’s historical society, Cordelia reflects on how the number of Pluto dead now outnumber the living and how many of the local businesses have closed because they have agriculture but no highways. Like many other people, Cordelia spends a lot of her time at the 4-B’s as a repository of the town history. “My friend Neve Harp is one of the last of the original founding families” (296), whose grandfather suggested they name the town Pluto, not realizing he was the God of the underworld.

Cordelia recounts the history of the Lochren murder, the lynchings, and the idea that the murderer was supposedly a teenage neighbor boy, Tobek, in love with the daughter who escaped. She talks about how Neve Harp’s great-uncle, the owner of the local bank, tried to escape to Brazil with the town’s money, then killed himself. She speaks of the WWI memorial in which community members chipped off Tobek’s name. She speaks remotely being adopted and raised by Tobek’s older sister, Electra, before becoming the region’s first female doctor, although she refused to treat Native Americans and fell in love with a much younger Antone.