Summary: Chapter 20
During the annual summer fish fry, women show off their
baking and men fish in the nearby pond. Music and the noises of
children’s games fill the air. Maya wanders into a secluded clearing
to sit on a tree and stare at the sky. Louise Kendricks, a pretty
girl of the same age, comes upon her. At first shy toward each other,
they soon hold hands and spin around while looking at the sky. They
become best friends and spend hours trying to learn the complicated
“Tut” language because it is even more esoteric than pig latin.
While in the seventh grade, Maya receives a note from
an eighth-grader, Tommy Valdon, asking her to be his valentine.
She shows it to Louise, and Louise explains that valentines mean
love. Maya says aloud, “Not ever again.” She does not explain what
she means to Louise. They tear the note into tiny pieces and throw
it into the wind. The day before Valentine’s Day, Maya’s teacher
calls the children by name and reads aloud cards sent to them from
the eighth-grade class. Tommy sends another letter to Maya, stating
that he saw Maya and her friend tear up his note, but he does not
think she meant to hurt his feelings. He still considers her his
valentine even if she does not answer his letter. He signs the note
with his initials. When Maya decides to throw caution to the wind
and flirt with him, Tommy’s crush has already begun to wane.
Summary: Chapter 21
Bailey constructs a tent in the yard and begins playing
sexual games with girls. Bailey plays the father, the girl plays
the mother, and Maya plays the baby, sitting outside to stand guard.
After six months, Bailey loses his virginity to Joyce, an older,
well-developed girl. Bailey begins stealing things from the Store
for her. After a few months, she disappears. Her aunt later tells
Momma that Joyce ran away with a railroad porter whom she met at
the Store. Momma becomes flustered thinking that something upsetting
like that occurred under her nose. Bailey is heartbroken. Maya never
liked Joyce, but she hates her for leaving and hurting Bailey. When
Joyce was around, Maya notes, Bailey did not use sarcasm.
Summary: Chapter 22
One stormy night, a fellow townsman named George Taylor
comes to the Store and stays the night, still heartbroken over the
death of his wife, Florida. Momma urges Mr. Taylor to be thankful
for the forty years he spent with Florida, although, Momma says,
it was a pity they never had children. At the mention of children,
Mr. Taylor replies that Florida appeared before him the night before
and told him that she wanted children. Momma and Willie ask if he
had been dreaming of Florida, but Mr. Taylor insists that he was
awake. Maya has always hated the custom of telling ghost stories,
but Mr. Taylor’s account scares her even more because he insists
it is real.
To occupy herself otherwise, Maya remembers that she
went to Florida’s funeral. She did not want to go, but Florida had
left her yellow brooch to Maya, and Momma insisted that
she attend the services. The experience turned out to be Maya’s
first confrontation with mortality. At the funeral, Florida seemed
to her like the short-lived mud sculptures so often made by children
playing in the summer.
Returning from her memory, Maya cannot help but hear Mr. Taylor
narrating his experience. The night before, he saw a fat, blond,
blue-eyed baby angel laughing at him. He heard his wife’s moaning
voice, and the angel laughed harder. Eventually, Mrs. Taylor’s voice
moaned that she wanted children.
