Summary

In Chapter 1, Frances notes that she must be dying because a vicar, for whom she did not ask, is sitting with her. Frances asks him where he thinks she will go when she dies. The vicar stammers a response and Frances understands that where she goes depends on what she confesses. He seems disappointed when she changes the subject. Frances is dying of a wasting disease that is not only ravaging her body, but also her memories of everything but the summer of 1969.

It was that summer when Cara told Frances she was beautiful and Frances chose to believe her. It was later that summer when she looked through the Judas hole in her bathroom floor and saw a body floating in pink water. Frances notes she had not been familiar with the term “Judas hole” (4) until she came “here, to this place...