Chapter 16 Summary

Victoria is buried in a small Catholic cemetery overlooking Exeter. Children cavort on the road that passes it to town. Amrita resumes teaching while Bobby does nothing. Abe comes to see his friend after a drunken late-night phone call. He advises against publishing Das' manuscript and then tells how most of his family perishes in the Holocaust. He does so to correct the idea that somethings are inevitable. In fact, some things happen out of pure bad luck and no one is to blame except the bad guys. Bobby blames himself for many mistakes and wonders who all the principles were. Abe points out that there had been two shots when Das dies. Some Kapalika, perhaps Krishna/Sanjay, must have set them both up. There is no explanation why Victoria has to die. Abe tells Bobby that he will never understand and never...