Summary

In Chapter 1, the postgraduate ornithologist Joanna Teale, who goes by Jo, returns to her temporary housing at Kinney Cottage. The college is deep in the forests of southern Illinois. Jo has had another long day of conducting research on various bird nests. As Jo begins to cook chicken for herself on her outdoor barbecue grill, a girl who appears nine or ten years old comes from out of the forest. The girl insists that she is an alien who has come from the planet of Hetrayeh and has simply inhabited the body of this young girl, who had previously died. Jo begrudgingly shares her dinner with her, while having a passive-aggressive conversation.

Chapter 2 resumes the next evening as Jo returns home from another day of work, and the girl is there yet again. Jo leaves on a quick errand to buy eggs from...