Chapter 9: Summary
After 3 months, Son and Jadine finally make it to Eloe, Florida, where Son spent his childhood. As they first step off the bus, Jade notices that the entire city is about the same size as a single block in Queens, New York. Her son reassures her that while this is the largest settlement in the area, she is still in Eloe proper. Son finds a driver to take them the rest of the way to Eloe by speaking with a group of black men outside the bus station.
The driver, Carl, is taken aback by Jadine's appearance, particularly "her cashmere sweater with a cowl neck,...Chacrel boots," and tight trousers in which "no honest work could be done," in his opinion. As Carl pulls over, Jadine is shocked to see just four dwellings on Eloe. Son reveals that the 90 homes he described to Jade are in different areas. As the saying goes, "girl," the residents of Eloe, "do not live all crunched up together." Jade will first notice a difference in Son while he is back in his hometown because of his "grinning like a groom" and "down home" linguistic pattern.
It is Soldier's house that they visit first in Eloe. Soldier's laughter, bouncing up and down, and stomping on the floor at seeing his old pal is enough to draw the attention of the adjacent residents. Son's request that Jade stays with Soldier's wife, Ellen, while he considers his dad upsets Jade. The fact that the men are off on the porch chatting while the women and kids are inside caused her even more unease. Since she has difficulty grasping their "down home" patois, she quickly runs out of conversational fodder with Ellen.
When Son visits, Old Man, whose real name is Franklin Green, is absent. When waiting for his father to return, the boy thinks of his family: Horace, Frank, Francine, and Porky. When Old Man unexpectedly encounters Son at his house, the two do not physically interact with one another. Very immediately, Old Man inquires about the whereabouts of the several money orders Son had sent over the previous eight years. But, he is perplexed why Son never sent him any letters. The son opens a box to find his father's money order envelopes, many of which have never been cashed because he feared they would cause trouble.
The two have not seen each other in eight years, so the Old Man updates his
son. The fact that Son's mother, Sally Brown, recently passed away is of
paramount importance. Sally, Cheyenne's mother, always had a shotgun on her and
promised to use it on Son if she ever saw him again for what he had done to her
daughter.
The older man explains to Son why Jadine cannot share a bed with him. Jadine
will spend the night with her Aunt Rosa because such an arrangement would be
frowned upon by society at large.
Instead of leaving the women and children, Jade thought about her camera and took some pictures. After Son gets back, he looks at the camera and immediately takes it away from her. Jadine strongly opposes the sleeping arrangement once she learns of it, but Son is adamant. The two go to a pub before heading to Rosa's house, where they dance with the locals. They have a quick snatch in the car before Son lets her out at Rosa's.
Immediately, Jade sleeps "like a boulder." Three hours later, she wakes up in the darkest place ever, "blacker and bleaker than Isle des Chevaliers and loud...with the presence of plants and field life."...
(This entire section contains 1396 words.)
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Regular nighttime sleeping hours for Jade involve her being naked when Rosa walks in to check on her. Once Rosa dresses Jade in a cotton nightgown, she curls up next to her for the rest of the night.
As Son wakes up the following day, he is more handsome than he was when Therese and Gideon give him a bath and make him appear presentable on Island des Chevaliers. With visions of "playing with each other under the Delta Airlines blanket—their faces serene as passengers, their hands devious and directed," Jade is eager to get on the plane and head to New York City as soon as possible. After speaking with Soldier, she learns that Son will spend at least one more day at Eloe, as yet another old buddy, Ernie Paul, is taking the day off to pay a visit. Since Jade knows she can not convince Son to leave, she will go to New York alone and wait a couple of days before inviting him to join her there. Son promises to visit Rosa that night and sleep in her room to appease her.
As Soldier visits Jadine, he asks if she and Son have made any wedding plans. Soldier boasts to Jade that Son's ex-wife Cheyenne possessed "the best pussy in Florida." Jade tells him, "Nobody," when he inquires who controls their relationship. In this, we are inseparable. "like she was a Cadillac he had won, stolen, or even bought," as Son's pals put it, "is how they look at Jade."
Son keeps his word and visits Jade in her bedroom that night. All the ladies in Jade's life, including Cheyenne, Rosa, Therese, Son's late mother, Sally Brown, Ondine, Ellen, Francine, and Jade's late mother, as well as the royal woman in yellow from Jade's earlier nightmares, cluster around them. At the same time, they make love and continue to do so after Son goes to sleep. The yellow woman shows Jade the three eggs she gave her earlier. Worried, Jadine can immediately leave Eloe. Son stays in Eloe to see Ernie Paul after sending Jadine off to New York on the train. After nearly a week, he finally joins Jadine in New York.
Jadine still has dreams in New York about the women trying to suffocate the adult she has become. After Son's prolonged absence, a dispute breaks out between them. She suggests he use Valerian's money to enroll in law school or open a shop with her. Son has rejected Valerian's financial aid offer and has no intention of attending college. He thinks Valerian has been disrespectful to her aunt and uncle for a long time and that he has used Jade as "toilet paper" to cover up his treatment of Sydney and Ondine. Their verbal dispute escalates into physical violence. Because of Jadine's bite, he is knocked unconscious.
Disagreements also arise from the gap in their levels of education. Although Jadine had taken advantage of every chance presented to her, Son had avoided making any long-term commitment to his life or future because he enjoyed his ignorance so much. This time they get into it to the point where he holds her out the window, suspending her midair.
Son gives in and takes a battery of college entrance exams, but he still would not submit the applications his mother has filled up for him. Her modeling career has suffered due to her time spent fighting, which has made her look older. Thank goodness Valerian finally sends Jade the interest from the municipal bond certificate he sent her years ago. Her son is concerned that she would revert to her former self and spend all her time caring for white children, the same thing she has been fighting against.
He tells her the story of the white farmer who, to stop a rabbit from stealing cabbages, creates a tar baby. Successful trapping prevented the rabbit from stealing the farmer's food. Once this argument escalates, Son decides to leave. After four hours, he returns to find Jadine, accusing him of being unwilling to abandon his slave mentality. Like the precious first dime from Frisco, she hands him one. Son storms off once more in a huff. Jadine is no longer there when he gets back.
Sitting in his flat, Son takes out the recently delivered photo album. Everyone and everything in Eloe seemed to be happy to see him. Friends and family members at home are what his eyes focus on. He now realizes how dull and ignorant his hometown and its people are.
Tormented by his inability to merge his life with Jade's, Son determines that staying with her is more important than anything else. She is his only hope, and he needs to locate her as soon as possible.
