The Darkest Child

It’s Tangy’s 14th birthday; she eats cookies with her siblings on the porch. They discuss Martha Jean and Velman’s status. Mushy thinks Martha Jean is in love. Tarabelle says that Rozelle claims nobody will ever marry Martha Jean because she’s deaf and nonverbal, and nobody will ever marry Tangy due to her dark skin. Mushy tells her siblings they’ll be stuck living with Rozelle forever and giving their money to her. When Mushy was a minor, their mother forced her into sex work. Mushy used sex work to make her own money to leave Georgia. Mushy predicts Tangy will be a nurse when she grows up, living in Ohio with Mushy. She asks Tarabelle what Rozelle is trying to make her be, angering Tarabelle; Mushy realizes Rozelle forced Tarabelle into sex work.

The siblings go inside. Rozelle overheard them and reprimands them for turning against her after she worked so hard. She makes the kids, including Mushy, repeat the phrase “honor thy mother” (96).

Rozelle takes the kids to Pearl and Frank’s house. Frank and Rozelle argue about her work. Tarabelle tells Pearl that she’s tired of her mother’s behavior, especially her refusal to tend to Judy. Rozelle argues that the kids are going to “ruin” Judy by holding her too often. Mushy and Harvey are drunk, and Rozelle throws a shoe at Harvey, but it hits Sam instead. Frank scolds Rozelle for throwing objects at her children in his house. Pearl gives Tangy some socks for her birthday, like she does every year. Tarabelle says Mushy inherited her alcohol use disorder from Rozelle, and Rozelle throws a shoe at Tarabelle. Someone told Rozelle that her kids were at Stillwaters.

Richard Mackey picks Mushy up; Rozelle shames her because Richard is married. The next morning, Mushy tells Tangy that a man named Curtis wants to marry her, but she’s undecided. Harvey says he’s undecided about marrying Carol Sue because her dad is nosy. Carol Sue’s dad is an undertaker and wants Harvey to work at the funeral home, but Archie, who might be Harvey’s father, says a new school for Black children is being built, and they’ll need two janitors. Wallace says he knows a secret about Zadie, but nobody is interested.

Rozelle calls Mushy a “slut,” but Mushy counters that Rozelle is a hypocrite. Rozelle throws hot coffee in Mushy’s face. Mushy leaves, and Rozelle cries for two days.

At school, Tangy eats lunch with her best friend, Mattie. Tangy has a crush on Jeff Stallings, who is a couple of years older, but Mattie doesn’t like boys. A girl named Edith invites Tangy to a party, but not Mattie. Mattie is offended when Tangy shows interest.

Mattie and Tangy walk home. Mattie complains about her mom, who is frequently abused by her dad. Mattie won’t return to school the following year, though her mom wants her to. Mattie thinks that, as a Black woman, her options are limited, and education won’t change that. Tangy disagrees.

Mattie says her dad gives money to Tangy’s mom, which upsets Mattie’s mom. Tangy says her mom never has money. Mattie points out that Tangy’s mom pays rent, buys food, pays bills, and buys fancy clothes for herself. Mattie’s mom says that half of the men in the county give Tangy’s mom money for doing “nasty” things. Tangy doesn’t understand what her mom’s profession is.

Mushy sends a birthday card to Martha Jean, and Velman delivers it to their house, infuriating Rozelle. She rips the card, slaps Martha Jean, and sends Velman away. Rozelle beats Martha Jean with her fists. She beats Tangy with a belt.

Tarabelle returns home from work, and Rozelle suggests they plant a vegetable garden. She commands Tarabelle to get ready to go out that night. Tarabelle begs not to go, and Tangy offers to go in her place, but Rozelle says that nobody would want Tangy.

Martha Jean’s face is so badly disfigured that she makes strange sounds when she breathes and is unable to eat. Tangy stays home from school to look after Judy. Rozelle says Martha Jean fell down some stairs. Rozelle tells Tangy to take Martha Jean, Judy, Edna, and Laura for a walk, because the landlord, Mr. Poppy, is coming over, but Rozelle doesn’t have the rent money.

Tangy takes her sisters to the post office to show Velman what their mother did to Martha Jean because of his visit. Mr. Nesbitt, who is chatting with Chadlow, tells Velman to get the Quinns out of the post office. Outside, Velman tells the Quinns that Mr. Nesbitt, Chadlow, and friends are opening other people’s mail and reading it.

Velman returns to work and the Quinn sisters wait in his car. After work, Velman drives them part of the way home and promises not to visit again. He says he’s going to get Martha Jean out of Rozelle’s house. Tangy wants to escape Rozelle’s house, too.

On Saturday, the kids do chores. Rozelle complains to Pearl that Mushy has turned the others against her. Pearl says Rozelle is turning the kids against herself. Rozelle claims Martha Jean fell down the stairs. Rozelle has been opening Mushy’s letters and found a bus ticket for Tarabelle, which she hides.

Tarabelle takes a walk with Mattie while Tangy works on laundry. Hambone is helping Sam and Harvey fix the roof. He flirts with Tangy, who isn’t interested. He asks her for a glass of water. In the kitchen, he gropes her aggressively until Tarabelle appears and hits him.

Outside, Wallace has a bike that he claims he stole from a white boy. Tangy runs to the woods behind the house, finds Mattie, and tells her what Hambone did. Mattie says all men do that, but Tangy doesn’t think Jeff Stallings or Mr. Pace does. Mattie says Tarabelle is pretty and that she likes her. Mattie leaves, and Junior appears.

Junior asks Tangy if Hambone bothered her. She doesn’t say much because she doesn’t want him to tell her brothers. Junior tells Tangy that she’ll never be satisfied in Bakersfield. Tangy says she works hard in school but feels like her interest in learning alienates her at home. Junior says that impressing herself is more important than impressing anyone else. Junior and others plan to drink from the white-only water fountain. Junior shares a poem he wrote about his uncle’s murder. Tangy tells Junior that the letters he’s been writing to newspapers and the NAACP may not have been delivered, because Mr. Nesbitt and Chadlow open people’s mail. Junior angrily rushes off to confront Mr. Nesbitt and Chadlow.

Tangy is singing with the church choir when Hambone, Sam, and a young boy named Steve Douglas interrupt. Hambone announces that the racism in town is out of hand and a Black man has been lynched and is hanging from a tree near Steve’s house. Steve ran away when he saw the body, so he doesn’t know who it was. Everybody leaves the church. Walking home, Tangy runs into Jeff Stallings, who tells Tangy that she’s pretty. Both of them hope that the lynching news was a mistake, but they know it wasn’t.

When Tangy gets home, her mother is out with Velman, and Martha Jean is worried. Wallace says Junior was lynched; Chadlow claims that the murderer was a Black person. The sheriff says people aren’t allowed to call the murder a “lynching.” Rozelle returns home and attempts to comfort Sam.

After school the following day, Tangy goes to the post office to mail a letter to Mushy. Velman warns Tangy that a bunch of white people are inside laughing about Junior’s death. She asks what Velman was doing with her mother, but he won’t tell, which makes her worry he’s courting both her mother and Martha Jean. Sam and Wallace teach Rozelle and Tarabelle how to smoke cigarettes. Martha Jean and Tangy teach Edna and Laura how to jump rope. Tangy warns Martha Jean about Velman, but Martha Jean doesn’t believe her.

That night, Harvey tells Rozelle that he married Carol Sue. Rozelle beats Harvey with a fire poker. Harvey leaves, giving Tangy hope that she might be able to leave one day, too.

At school, Tangy confronts Mattie, who now spends more time with Tarabelle than Tangy. Mattie likes Tarabelle, and she and Tangy decide not to be best friends anymore. Junior’s funeral procession passes, and everyone watches respectfully. Wallace gets injured at school. Rozelle doesn’t have a phone, and Pearl and Frank are at work, so he calls Zadie.

At home, Tangy tells Wallace that, after Junior’s lynching, she’s worried about Wallace because he stole a white boy’s bike. Wallace confesses that he didn’t steal it; it was a birthday gift from Zadie.