Summary

“Funerals by Delores” is set in 1991. Delores fries chicken in the kitchen and prepares to lead the ceremony for McAlester’s funeral. She and her sister had run away from their government boarding school after another girl had died in her sleep because of the flu. Delores went to Hollywood and became a famous actress. When her mother died, she went home and sought out Susan, Billy’s grandmother, who was 117. The old woman taught Delores the funeral songs of her people. Delores became a modern bone-picker after leading her mother’s funeral ceremony and impressing the whole tribe. She ripped up her Hollywood contract and decided to move back to Oklahoma permanently. In the present moment, Delores has a vision in which she remembers her mother's Queen Anne table and then is told to bury McAlester in Mississippi where the other half...