The Darkest Child

Tangy lives with her mother and her siblings—Harvey, Sam, Tarabelle, Martha Jean, Wallace, Laura, and Edna—in a decaying, small house. Their older sister, Mushy, moved to Ohio. The children sleep on pallets in the kitchen or living area, and Rozelle sleeps in a bed upstairs. Tangy worries that the house will be destroyed by a storm someday.

Sixteen-year-old Tarabelle says Rozelle is just going into labor. Rozelle slaps Tarabelle, frightening four-year-old Edna and five-year-old Laura. Fourteen-year-old Martha Jean is deaf and nonverbal, so her siblings communicate through sign language, which Rozelle refuses to learn. Tangy fantasizes about having different parents, an in-home library, and electricity so she can read anytime. They are allowed one kerosene lamp per night. Rozelle instructs Tangy to write to Mushy, whose real name is Elizabeth Anne, to tell her Rozelle is dying.

Tangy and Martha Jean walk toward the post office to mail the letter. Martha Jean’s clothes and shoes are too big, and she doesn’t have a coat. Rozelle claims Martha Jean doesn’t need good clothes because she doesn’t attend school or church.

When Tangy was six, Rozelle came home with a box, which she nailed to the underside of a floorboard in her bedroom. She told the children never to touch the box, but Martha Jean could not hear her. Rozelle instead nudged Martha Jean toward the box and pierced her hand with an ice pick when she reached for the box.

Tangy and Martha Jean pass by the train station, where Black men wait to be hired for temporary jobs. Their brother Sam is there, and their brother Harvey is out working. Rozelle favors Sam because he’s light-skinned; people sometimes think he’s white. Rozelle calls Sam, Martha Jean, Harvey, and Mushy her “white” kids, whereas Tarabelle, Laura, and Wallace are “Indian,” and Edna and Tangy are Black. Sam didn’t want to work with Harvey because the hiring man didn’t indicate the pay or the nature of the work. People sometimes lie about how much they’re going to pay Black men, and the sheriff, Angus Betts, doesn’t stop them. A man named Max thinks Sam spends too much time with an activist named Hambone. Junior, a substitute teacher at Tangy’s school, agrees that change is needed but thinks Hambone's methods are reckless. Junior wants to work with the NAACP. He doesn’t think it’s right that Chadlow, a white man who isn’t a police officer, is allowed to patrol the town with a gun and arrest Black people. Tangy likes Junior because he’s smart and has completed two years of college. Junior travels to rural areas, teaching people how to write and read. Junior thinks Sam would make an effective leader in movements for social change. Tangy isn’t sure that social change is possible in Bakersfield.

The postmaster, Charlie Nesbitt, is slow to help Tangy mail the letter. Martha Jean stands outside with a Black post office worker named Velman. Tangy tells him to leave her alone. Velman asks the two girls to wait until he gets off work, offering to drive them home. Martha Jean won’t budge until Velman returns.

Velman is 22 and from a different town. Tangy says he’s too old to pursue Martha Jean. Velman's uncle, Skeeter Richards, is a Quinn family acquaintance. Tangy agrees to let Velman drive them halfway home.

Early Saturday morning, Tangy wakes up in Laura’s urine and then changes into her old dress. Wallace says it wouldn’t be bad if their mom really did die, especially since she says she gets pregnant whenever a man looks at her. Tangy says that’s not how impregnation works, though she doesn’t know either.

The family has an outhouse, but at night, they use a bucket that Wallace empties each morning. Martha Jean heats water for coffee and grits. Tarabelle and Tangy do laundry. Reverend Nelson and women from the church visit to pray and give the family food; they heard from Ms. Janie that Rozelle was dying. Pearl arrives, sends the church people away, and then prepares to deliver Rozelle’s baby.

The Munfords stop by to say Tangy is too young to work for them. Rozelle offers Tarabelle instead, and they accept. Tarabelle resents Tangy.

Rozelle’s labor is difficult. Tarabelle tells Wallace and Tangy that women get pregnant when men urinate inside them. Pearl wants to send for the local midwife, Zadie Grodin. Rozelle hates Zadie, but Sam and Harvey fetch her. Rozelle is bleeding profusely, so she must go to the hospital. Zadie’s husband, John, hates Rozelle and refuses to drive her. Frank arrives and drives Rozelle and Pearl to the hospital.

The next morning, Wallace returns with news: Their new sibling is a girl, and Rozelle will stay in the hospital. The kids don’t know who their dads are, although Archie Preston, the school janitor, claims to be Harvey’s dad. Wallace tells Harvey and Sam how Tarabelle says babies are conceived. Tarabelle is annoyed that the older boys think her explanation is inaccurate because “it feels like pee” (47).

When Tangy was 10, she was chased home by bullies. Rozelle told her that, as a Quinn, she shouldn’t be afraid of anyone, then branded her with a fire poker. The scar is supposed to remind Tangy that she’s a fighter.

Tangy runs into Velman, who has bought a coat for Martha Jean. Tangy warns him that Martha Jean will get in trouble for the coat. Tangy reiterates that Velman is too old for Martha Jean, but Velman argues that Martha Jean is a “woman.” Velman also gives Tangy a scarf.

With Rozelle in the hospital, Harvey and Sam have some friends over to discuss the “Movement” for social change. Tangy eavesdrops. Junior’s uncle, Nathan Fess, was murdered because he started a taxi business that competed with a white business. The police didn’t investigate, but Junior thinks it was Chadlow.

They talk about how hard it is to get a steady job. The schools were supposed to integrate per federal law, but the local schools are still segregated. Junior writes to newspapers and the NAACP, but nobody writes back. Some of the men think violence is the best strategy to create change, but Junior thinks education is more effective. Hambone temporarily left Bakersfield for Chicago, where he claims things are better. Some of the men want to move away, but most can’t afford to. They agree to first address the segregated water fountain by the courthouse.

Rozelle returns home, accompanied by Harlell Nixon, the barbershop owner. He took her shopping for baby supplies and drove her home. The new baby, Judy, is passed off to Martha Jean. Rozelle tells Tarabelle to come with her and Harlell. Tarabelle pleads not to go, saying that she’s been doing a good job at the Munfords’ house. Rozelle insists, and Tarabelle reluctantly obeys. Rozelle instructs the others to feed Judy evaporated milk. Later that night, Tangy hears Tarabelle crying, so she comforts her.

Rozelle says that, while she was gone, somebody let “Satan” into their house. She makes them repeat the phrase “honor thy mother” (70). She wants to know who let Satan in, but nobody confesses. Sam protests, and Rozelle throws a clock at him. She misses, and the clock breaks against the wall.

Mushy arrives, believing that Rozelle is dying, per her letter. Rozelle is disappointed because Judy is dark-skinned and because she had a hysterectomy at the hospital. Mushy doesn’t see the problem with either. Rozelle scolds Mushy for being drunk, and Mushy scolds Rozelle for neglecting Judy, who is crying. Wallace gets the bottle so that Tangy can feed Judy. Mushy is surprised that Rozelle isn’t breastfeeding Judy, since it’s cheaper, and she breastfed the other children.

Mushy plans to stay for a week. She works in a hospital kitchen, but Rozelle keeps calling her a nurse, planning to brag to others. Mushy is proud of Tangy’s grades, but both Rozelle and Tarabelle think Tangy is lazy because she doesn’t have a job yet.

Mushy plans to secretly take the older kids to a bar, Stillwaters. Pearl takes Rozelle to her house for a party. Tarabelle doesn’t want to go to the bar, so she watches Edna and Laura. Hambone picks them up in his car.