Summary
On the road to Parchman, Kayla starts vomiting incessantly. Jojo comforts his sister, while Leonie watches with envy from her driver’s seat. Worried that Kayla is becoming dehydrated, Leonie stops at a gas station along the road to pick up a sports drink. Kayla is unable to hold down the drink, and she grows increasingly irritated by Leonie’s forcefulness. Jojo grows frustrated at his mother for being unable to heal Kayla. He fears that she will make Kayla sicker, since Leonie has a habit of “making things worse.”
As Kayla’s condition appears to worsen, Leonie pulls into another gas station hoping to find anti-nausea medicine. However, the gas station does not have any. Out of luck, Leonie recalls that Mam used to teach her about the healing properties of plants. When Mam was first diagnosed with cancer, she aimed to heal herself using only natural remedies. However, the cancer had progressed to an irreversible stage without any form of effective treatment.
Leonie recalls that milkweed can be used to treat nausea, and she forages for the plant in the woods behind the gas station. While searching for the milkweed, Leonie struggles to remember the details of Mam’s herbal lessons. She feels guilty that she once ignored such valuable advice. Leonie recalls that she can use strawberry leaves in place of milkweed, but she is only able to find blackberry leaves in the woods. Meanwhile, Misty grows frustrated at their delayed travel and pressures Leonie to return to the car.
Jojo watches Kayla grow increasingly distressed in the car. He again voices his hesitancy about Leonie’s blackberry-leaf remedy, recalling a moment in which his mother inadvertently killed his pet beta fish because she forgot to buy it more food. Kayla eventually falls asleep in the car, and the group arrives at the house of an older gentleman. The man’s name is Al, and he offers Jojo and Kayla spaghetti. Al is Michael and Bishop’s lawyer. Leonie prepares the blackberry leaves and forces Kayla to drink the juice she brews. Misty, Leonie, and Al go to the porch to drink and do drugs. While the adults are socializing, Jojo forces Kayla to throw up so that she does not become “poisoned” from the blackberry-leaf juice.
Jojo attempts to fall asleep, but he thinks about how he wanted to have a dog while growing up. Pop, however, refused having a dog in the house due to his experiences at Parchman. While imprisoned, Pop used to work with the violent jail dogs who were used to hunt down the prisoners that attempted escape. Kinnie Wagner, who used to train the dogs, once successfully escaped Parchman because the dogs were trained to see him as an “ally.”
Back at Al’s house, Jojo wakes up to find that the adults stayed up all night getting wasted. They leave to pick Michael up at Parchman. The family is soon reunited, but Michael only initially pays attention to Leonie. Jojo thinks about how Pop’s old friend at Parchman, Richie, was whipped terribly while working in the jail’s fields. He remained feverish after being whipped, and he hallucinated about eating dirt. This memory prompts Jojo to worry about Kayla’s developing fever. After Kayla vomits another time, Jojo sees a skinny boy appear at the side of the car.
Richie begins to narrate the story, claiming that he can tell Jojo is related to Pop due to their shared paternal affections. After Richie died, he explains that he saw a creature resembling both a snake and a bird leading him through the sky. Richie wants to tell Jojo all of the stories about Pop, whom he calls River. However, he decides to wait to divulge the details of their relationship.
Analysis
Kayla’s illness is distressing, primarily because it is mysterious and inexplicable. Her incessant crying adds to the air of distress in the group, and tension mounts. As Kayla grasps for Jojo, her anguish prompts Leonie to recognize her own shortcomings as a parent. Leonie’s urge to cure Kayla with an herbal remedy demonstrates Leonie’s desire to mimic Mam’s maternal, comforting nature. However, her inability to adequately recall the milkweed recipe signifies how Leonie’s addiction has caused her to neglect important relationships in her life.
Although Misty has a less-prominent role in the story, her character serves as a strong contrast to Leonie. While both characters are impoverished and struggle with addiction, Misty’s whiteness still gives her advantages. As they travel to Parchman, Misty asks Leonie to visit a courthouse to admire the building’s history and architecture. Leonie pushes back on Misty’s suggestion, since she recognizes that the law has been manipulated throughout history in order to keep her family and ancestors oppressed. While Leonie refers to Misty as the “closest thing she has to a friend,” there is a clear disconnect between the two characters which further contributes to Leonie’s sense of isolation and abandonment.
Jojo is initially excited when they arrive at the home of Al, Michael’s lawyer. Jojo became quite hungry during the drive, and he takes a liking to Al when he offers him spaghetti. Food and cooking reappear as motifs throughout the story, signifying comfort and caretaking. As a child who has been traumatized by parental neglect, Jojo establishes trust with characters that are able to provide him with food. Jojo initially feels safe and welcome at Al’s home.
However, cooking carries another significance throughout the story. Leonie and Michael are often depicted cooking drugs while Jojo and Kayla go hungry. In this way, cooking also signifies the destruction of the family. While Jojo first liked Al, he soon realizes that Al uses drugs and further enables Leonie’s addiction. Jojo realizes, once again, that he is unable to trust those that orbit around his parent’s lives.
In this section, we witness the returns of Michael and Richie. Both characters travel “home” with Jojo from Parchman. In addition, both characters have unresolved business to take care of. While Michael’s post-prison life marks the beginning of reconciling with his family, Richie is a ghost who seeks closure from his violent prison death. Similar to the contrast between Leonie and Misty, the contrast between Michael and Richie provides commentary on how the prison experience differs for Black and white people.
