Summary

It is March 1986, and Mano Reichert is watching for Halley’s Comet on the rooftop of her childhood home. Mano is the younger sister of Ruth and Sister, and she has been working as an artist for years. At this point, the reader learns that Ruth has become a labor and delivery nurse and has left Del. Mano clearly admires her sister, describing her as “the wild teenage dreamer Mano had idolized as a girl” (42). Mano is currently working at the Loveland water treatment facility and she is worried about the dead fish in the river. She is also concerned about the state of her marriage, a love that has deteriorated since she first met Rick. There is a distance between the two of them, exacerbated by the affairs both Mano and Rick are pursuing.

The next day at work, the reader...