Chapters 13, 14, and 15 Summary

Carol plans to visit friends, Mr. and Mrs. Perry, one evening. When they are not at home, she ends up visiting with attorney, Guy Pollock, whose residence is in the same building as the Perry's. Carol is taken by Guy's intensity and his apparent overwhelming loneliness. She feels drawn to him, in spite of their twenty-year age difference.

Guy tells Carol about how he came to Gopher Prairie, and his resulting boredom with the town, which he calls the Village Virus. Guy warns Carol about this virus which affects ambitious people who come to Gopher Prairie, but end up staying so long that they can no longer go back to the sophisticated life they once knew.

Guy also tells Carol about the dynamics of the town's professional people and their code of confidentiality and sometimes-questionable business ethics. Carol spends the evening...