Summary

It is October of 1918 and Mary Shelley Black boards a train in Portland, Oregon. She is on her way to stay with her Aunt Eva in San Diego. The reek of onions permeates the train because people use them as a natural deterrent to the Spanish Influenza which is killing people all over the world. All the people on the train also wear gauze masks over their noses and mouths to prevent the spread of germs. Mary Shelley has her mother's doctor bag in which she carries some personal items and letters written to her by her longtime friend, Stephen Embers, who now lives near San Diego on Coronado Island.

In Chapter 2, "Aunt Eva and the Spirits," Mary Shelley waits for her Aunt Eva at the San Diego train...