In West Mills

In June 1960, reports of the Greensboro sit-ins reach West Mills. On his 52nd birthday, Otis Lee asks Riley Pennington, the owner of the farm where he works, to let him off early. Pennington agrees and offers him a ride. On the way, Otis Lee is annoyed to hear Pennington describe the town’s history in a way that infantilizes its Black residents. Otis Lee asks to be dropped off at a church, where he visits graves belonging to Noni, his father, and Rose, who died five years earlier. A month before her subsequent death, Noni, then losing her memory, apparently confused Knot with Essie, telling her to “come get her baby” (124). After Noni’s death, Otis Lee received a card from Essie containing $200, which he almost threw away, remembering the disdainful way her husband, Thomas O’Heeney, treated him while he worked for them in New York.

Otis Lee arrives home to find Pep scolding Breezy for leading on Fran and Eunice, whom she found fighting over him in the yard. After Breezy says that he loves both, Otis Lee tells him to make up his mind. Breezy asks why he can’t have “everything I want” (129), just like Otis Lee does.