Conversation so far:
How does the story begin?
It reveals a tale, mostly in the form of brief dialog extracts by the narrator's family at dinnertime, on the day that a local boy.
What did the local boy do?
jumped to his death from a nearby bridge.
Why did he jump?
the suicide and other tragedies are contrasted against the banality of everyday routine and polite conversation.

Question: Who are other characters in the song?
Self-contained rewrite: In Ode to Billie Joe, are there any other characters aside from Billie?