Dot is the same age as David, so she is 20 or 21 as the novel unfolds. Dot is a lesbian and when the novel first opens, she is involved with a woman by the name of Ginger. Dot and David are best friends and roommates, so they tell each other everything and seem to talk openly about almost any topic. When Dot accompanies David and his mother to Hulligan's Wharf, she meets David's married 16-year-old cousin, Iris. Dot starts an affair with Iris that leads to Iris's husband trying to kill Dot. After Iris and Dot break up, Dot suddenly shows David a gun—saying she is going to use it to kill Judy, Wanda's sister with whom David is having an affair, and her husband. By the end of the novel, Dot implies to David's cousin, Pamela, that Dot is in love with David. Pamela makes a statement about Dot doing what she has to do to protect a good man—referring to David.
