Summary

Chapter Two opens roughly 50 years later, and starts as if the end of Chapter One was a memory that Fix was relating to Franny while he is waiting for chemotherapy. The aftermath of the christening party is rapidly made clear. Bert and Beverly leave their respective spouses and move to Virginia, thus dividing their families. Interspersed throughout the chapter with discussions of his cancer and the medical facility where he is being treated are Fix’s memories. Characters who were not featured in the first chapter are mentioned but not intensely developed, namely Franny's older sister Caroline and her one-time flame. Topics range from his long service as cop to old family friends, with special detail to Albie and the impact that Fix had on Albie’s adolescence, Beverly and Beverly’s best friend, Wallis, who Fix despised and blames for the end...