When Two Feathers Fell From the Sky

Two writes a letter in the stables and Crawford enters, visibly upset. He reveals that his cousin Jimmy, an insurance salesman, was brutally beaten in a primarily black neighborhood. Crawford implies that the police refuse to help and that his family is trying to seek justice independently. Two thinks of the unsolved murders of Osage people near the 101 Ranch and understands their desperation. Crawford explains his family history: His grandfather was a white enslaver who freed his children and had them formally educated. Crawford is the only member of his family not to go to college.

As she prepares for her jump, Two scans the crowd, searching for a man who might be Strong-Red-Wolf. The sound of a dog barking startles Two, and she visualizes an oak tree, a buffalo herd, and a beaver to center herself. Two mounts Ocher, but the horse refuses to jump. As the crowd grows more rowdy, Two attempts to calm Ocher. The dog continues barking. Two forces Ocher off of the ledge, but she doesn’t jump far enough. Two notices the pool has become a whirlpool, and leaps off. Two and Ocher hit the pool violently.

Crawford is confused by the sudden vortex in the pool and runs toward it. One of the bleachers has collapsed, and patrons yell racial slurs at him as they try to escape. Crawford realizes that one of the caves under the park must have collapsed, swallowing up the pool, including Two and Ocher. He decides to enter the caves and search for Two. Crawford rides out into land once owned by his grandfather to search for the cave entrance. He is stopped by a violent white man, but quickly explains his purpose and secures his assistance.

Dinner at the Shackleford house is interrupted by news of the accident. Although Shackleford is initially skeptical, his wayward son Lewis explains that the park is built on a series of sinkholes and caves, rendering the landscape fragile. Shackleford remembers stories of earthquakes in the early 19th century that inspired religious movements. Crawford arrives and leads the Shacklefords—including James’s wife May and his sister Maggie, a famous suffragette—to the cave’s entrance. Although the women and Crawford arrive first, they wait for Lewis to lead the rescue mission.

When the men arrive, park manager Clive leads the digging. As he digs, Clive remembers digging trenches during the Great War. He begins singing to distract himself and the rest of the group. The singing rouses Two, who cries weakly for help. Clive hears her and climbs through a hole in the rock to reach her. He determines that her leg is broken, but is unsure whether she has internal injuries. Ocher is dead. Lewis sends Crawford to fetch a stretcher to remove Two. Clive secures Two’s leg and calms her to sleep. While waiting for help to arrive, Clive has a vision of his cousin Millwood, who was killed in the war.

When the fire department arrives, a debate emerges about which hospital Two should be taken to. The ambulance driver believes she will be rejected from the white hospital, but Shackleford’s wife insists the Black hospital isn’t suitable. Shackleford intervenes to have her seen at the white hospital. Mrs. Shackleford worries that Clive’s experience in the cave will send him into another depression. Clive takes a long bath in his cabin, draining and refilling the tub several times. While waiting for Two at the hospital, he observed an old woman being comforted by a spiritual presence, which he determines is the woman herself.

Despite promising his wife to visit Clive first thing, Shackleford spends his morning at his Nashville office before visiting the park in the afternoon. His first stop is the collapsed diving tank, which has been temporarily fenced off. He wonders whether he can rebuild the diving show, or whether a new attraction should be installed. He visits the hippopotamus, Dinah, where he finds Clive and a young assistant he introduces as Jack Older. Clive says Dinah is healthy, and that he plans to visit Two in the hospital soon. Shackleford reluctantly agrees to let Clive bring Crawford to the hospital.

Crawford drives Clive’s car to the hospital to visit Two. The white nurse is visibly upset at having to admit Crawford and reluctantly brings the men to a private room away from the other patients. Two bursts into tears when she sees the two men; Clive feels awkward, while Crawford comforts her. Two asks the men to help her leave the hospital. When Clive asks about her family, Two tells them not to call her parents and says that she prefers to recover at Glendale. Although she longs to be home, Two thinks that it would not be safe for her family to travel to Tennessee to retrieve her.

Clive visits Helen Hampton, the house mother responsible for chaperoning Two’s dormitory at Glendale, to convince her to give Two a new room on the first floor for her recovery. Knowing that Helen has a crush on him, Clive leads her into suggesting the idea herself. Clive sees a young Indigenous man standing below an oak tree outside the dormitory. However, Helen doesn’t seem to notice him. Clive accepts that he has started to see spirits. Later, he visits the Shackleford house and asks Mrs. Shackleford to convince her husband to let Two stay although she can no longer work.

When Crawford returns to pick up Two, Jack is with her. Jack escorts Two out of the hospital and watches as a nurse and Crawford struggle to put her wheelchair in the car. He considers a biological hierarchy of races and wonders if Two is less evolved than he is. Two is sick on the drive home. Privately, Jack is excited to see Two in such a vulnerable position. At Glendale, Helen waits for Clive to visit Two. When he doesn’t appear, she goes to find him. Clive spots her but worries that she’s another spirit. When he finally approaches her, he’s so relieved she’s a live human that he invites her to witness the appeal of the recent Scopes trial.