The story takes place on a cold December day. It begins as a very old, small Black woman named Phoenix Jackson sets out along a path through the woods. She walks slowly and with a sense of great labor. As a result of her failing vision, she uses a cane made from an umbrella to feel out the ground in front of her. She wears a striped dress with large skirts, an apron made from recycled sugar bags, and a red rag on her head. She’s dressed neatly but her shoes are untied.

As she makes her slow, laborious way down the path, she begins to speak aloud to any wild animals that may be out and about, warning them to stay away from her, to leave her path clear. There’s a sense, as she makes this declaration, that she may have previously encountered wild animals that slowed her progress. The path comes to a hill and Phoenix reflects that, whenever she faces the hill, it always presents a formidable obstacle, one that tempts her to stop her journey. She continues on anyway, as she has, it seems, time and time again.

Once she reaches the bottom of the hill, her dress catches on a thorny bush which she mistakes for a green bush because of her vision difficulties. She takes time to disentangle her skirts from the thorns, and her progress is slow and frustrated. She can’t afford to tear her dress. Finally free, she reflects on how high the sun has gotten in the sky and worries about the time.

Phoenix’s next obstacle is a log laid across the creek. With her eyes closed, she uses her cane to navigate and lets her feet march her across successfully. She’s relieved to pass but still sits down to rest. There, on the bank of the creek, she has her first dream vision. A little boy comes up to her and offers her a slice of marble-cake, but when she goes to reach for it, she finds there is nothing there. 

Next, Phoenix must crawl through a barbed-wire fence on her hands and knees without tearing her dress or hurting her body. She talks to herself as she passes, telling herself she must be successful. She is. She continues on through a cotton field, dead in the winter, and is thankful for the season because there are no bulls or snakes. She reflects on a two-headed snake that delayed her journey in the summer.


She sees what she thinks may be a tall, slender Black man or maybe a ghost in the field. She approaches it and reaches out her hand to investigate because she has trouble seeing. When she realizes it’s just a scarecrow, she is relieved. She tells the scarecrow to dance, and she dances a little with it.

She reaches the place she calls “the easy place” and stoops for a drink of water. She’s grateful that the alligators are sleeping. She then is surprised by a big black dog, and when she tries to defend herself against him, she falls into a ditch. There she has her second dream vision, and she reaches her hand up and finds that there’s nothing reaching back to help her up. She lays in the ditch and talks to herself until a young white hunter comes along.

He helps her out of the ditch, laughing at her predicament. He makes sure she’s physically okay and tells her she should go back home because the journey she’s making is a long one, even for him. Because she’s an old Black woman, he assumes she’s making the long trip to town to see Santa Claus.

Phoenix sees a nickel fall out of the man’s pocket. Slyly, she goads him into getting his dog to chase off the black dog that knocked her in the ditch. While the hunter is occupied with the dogs, Phoenix slowly leans down, grasps the nickel, and puts it into the pocket of her apron. 

When the hunter returns, he points his gun at her and asks her if she’s scared. She says she isn’t, that she’s seen many guns go off much closer to her for less serious offenses than her theft. He puts his gun down, resumes his friendly demeanor, and tells her again that he thinks she should go home. She continues on her way, but she can hear the hunter’s gun going off in the distance.

The shadows on the oak trees tell her that time is passing. She smells wood smoke and the river, hears bells ringing, and sees the town of Natchez in the distance. It is decked out with lights and decorations for Christmas. Phoenix trusts her feet to lead the way because her eyesight is failing her.

She passes a woman on the sidewalk and asks her to tie her shoelaces. She’s concerned about appearing disheveled now that she has reached the town. The woman is brusque with Phoenix, but she puts her many shopping bags down and ties Phoenix’s shoelaces for her.

Phoenix arrives at a big building and sees a plaque that matches one she has dreamed of. As soon as she has arrived at her destination, exhaustion hits Phoenix. She encounters an attendant, who guesses that Phoenix is a charity case, but Phoenix is silent, sweating, and still. The attendant expresses frustration at Phoenix’s silence. A nurse who recognizes Phoenix arrives and tells the attendant her story: Phoenix’s grandson has been sick for a few years after drinking some lye, which damaged his throat. Phoenix comes to town all the time to get medicine for him.

Phoenix has remained silent throughout the visit. The nurse begins to question her with increasing intensity and irritation. When she asks if Phoenix’s grandson is dead, Phoenix begins to come back to life. She admits that she forgot why she made her long journey. She is apologetic, explaining that she never went to school because she was too old to attend by the time slavery ended. She says her memory sometimes fails her. 

She explains that her grandson’s condition is the same as it has been, and he needs her help because his throat closes up. The medicine she fetches for him, that the doctor donates to her out of charity, makes it so her grandson can breathe and swallow. She explains to the nurse how much she loves her grandson and that even though her memory fails, she always recognizes him.

The nurse becomes impatient again and gives her the medicine, noting that it’s given as charity. Phoenix thanks the nurse and the attendant offers her a few pennies. Phoenix points out that there are five pennies in a nickel, and the attendant gives her a nickel, which she adds to the one she pinched from the hunter. She looks at the two nickels and tells the white women that she’s going to buy a paper windmill as a gift for her grandson so he can see what kind of wonders there are in the world.

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