Heartwood

On the way home, Bev sees Janet Gillis passing out flyers and stops to help. She notices Janet’s high spirits and is struck by her resilience in the face of possible tragedy. She seems to remain focused on the possibility of finding Valerie rather than on its grim alternative. Janet asks about Bev’s family, and Bev reflects that although her father encouraged her interest in the outdoors, he was somewhat aloof. He died when she was a teenager, leaving Bev to help her mother with her younger siblings. Her mother was also aloof and completely unprepared for the demands of solo parenting, and she began self-medicating with various prescription pills. She also became a born-again Christian, which further emotionally removed her from her children.

Bev listens to a voicemail from her sister about their mother’s declining health; Bev’s siblings want a do-not-resuscitate order. Bev recalls that when she was awarded one of the few game warden positions in the state, her mother was not pleased. She deemed the work too “masculine” and wondered if Bev’s father was to blame for spending so much time with her in the woods.