Summary

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Summary

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 Summary“The First Day: Birth in a Bare-Bulb Place”

China, the pit bull, has gone into labor, but she looks nothing like Esch’s mother looked when she was givingbirth to Esch's youngest sibling, Junior. Mama had given birth to all four children right there in the house.Esch was only eight at the time so she was of no help to her mother, but Mama had told everyone that she didnot need any help. Daddy said that Esch and her two older brothers, Randall and Skeetah, had been easybirths, but Junior’s birth was hard. He came into the world purple and blue, and Mama did not want to go tothe hospital. Later, Daddy dragged her to the truck to take her anyway, and the children never saw her again.Now, as China suffers in labor, the only person she will let near her is sixteen-year-old Skeetah, who tries tokeep her relaxed. Skeetah had her mated with a male pit bull that Manny’s cousin enters into illegaldogfights. China births her first puppy, a large, reddish-orange male that Skeetah says will one day be a killer.The next one comes out backward, a white puppy with black spots. His tongue sticks out—he is dead. The nextthree are birthed without incident, and when they think she is done, China gets up and goes to the corner ofthe shed. She spills the afterbirth, and when she walks away, Skeetah sees something moving. Abrindle-colored runt has come out last, and luckily, the puppy is breathing.

Outside, Daddy gets the house ready for possible hurricanes, because in summer there are always hurricanes.He can feel a storm coming. He sends Junior under the house to fetch jugs so that they can be filled withwater. Meanwhile, Manny arrives at the house—he is nineteen, two years older than Randall—and the twoshoot basketball together. While the boys play, Daddy tells Esch to wash the bottles, but one breaks in herhand, and the blood mingles in the puddled water near her feet. She wants Manny to see her, but does notwant him to think her helpless. It is her brother Randall who comes to her aid. Later, she takes the brokenbottle pieces out to the Pit to be burned with the family’s other trash. Her family inherited the land there inBois Sauvage, Mississippi, from her mother’s parents, Mother Lizbeth and Papa Joseph. Papa Joseph used tosell earth from his land until the Pit grew to the size of a pond, and then he and Mother Lizbeth farmed theland. Now, the land is overgrown. At the Pit, Manny meets Esch, and he touches her where he always doesbefore he takes off her pants. The two lie in the red dirt, and Esch shows him that she wants him by movingher hips. He is not the first boy she has been with, but he is the only one she has truly wanted.

Back at home, Esch makes Junior take a bath. She is the last to shower, and when she goes to bed, sheimagines Manny hovering above her.

Chapter 2 Summary“The Second Day: Hidden Eggs”

The morning after China gives birth, Esch wakes to the sound of hammering. Skeetah is outside building akennel for the puppies—he is amazed that China gave birth to five living puppies and wants to see them thrive.Skeetah does not want to abandon the task, so Esch goes off alone to look for breakfast. Her mother taught her

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how to scan the yard for hidden eggs, but for Esch, the task is still hard work that requires concentration. Eschthinks that the only two things that have ever been easy for her to do are swimming and sex. She lost hervirginity at age twelve to Skeetah’s best friend, Marquise, in the backseat of her father’s dump truck. Shelearned to swim when she was six—her father had picked her up and thrown her in the Pit, but she did not getpulled down by the water and used her limbs to stay on the surface.

At the breakfast table, Junior is pouting because he does not want to eat the eggs and prefers to eat drynoodles. Esch takes out the plate of eggs to Skeetah so that China can eat them instead. Esch notices that thedog’s teats look like human breasts, and suddenly she runs outside the shed and vomits in the dirt.

Later, Big Henry arrives and Daddy tries to scam beer off him. Skeetah comes from the shed and says that heneeds to buy dog food, so Big Henry offers a ride and Esch tags along with them. They go to the grocery storein St. Catherine, which is packed with people buying provisions for the impending hurricane. Inside, Eschsneaks off to hide a pregnancy test in the band of her shorts, and Skeetah broods over the dog food; he mustget the most expensive brand. On the way home, the trio witnesses a car accident. A man has run his car into atree, and a woman is lying on the road like she is sleeping. The man appears disoriented, so Big Henry offersassistance. He takes the man’s cellular telephone to give directions to the 911 operator, who asks him toremain at the scene until help arrives. Skeetah is angry. He assumes the man and the woman are having anaffair and therefore not worthy of their help; besides, he wants to return to help China with her puppies. BigHenry makes them stay.

At home, Esch thanks Big Henry for the ride. In the bathroom, Esch runs water for the tub and pees on thestick of the pregnancy test. She sets it on the edge of the tub as she climbs in, careful not to knock it into thewater. The two lines turn blue, and Esch recalls the directions on the package. She is pregnant.

Chapter 3 Summary“The Third Day: Sickness in the Dirt”

Esch tries hard to sleep, but the truth of her pregnancy keeps her awake. Right now, pregnancy meansvomiting from the minute Esch wakes up in the morning. She hugs the toilet while her brothers scream at herfrom outside the bathroom door. She tells them that she is shaving her legs and hopes that they do not noticeher condition. Esch goes back to bed, and her father never sends one of her brothers to wake her so that shecan prepare the family for the hurricane. She wonders what all the men are up to this morning. Then Skeetahappears in the door, and Esch knows that something is wrong. She follows him out to the shed, where one ofthe puppies is not eating with the rest. Skeetah tries to move the puppy closer to China so that it can nurse, butChina growls and bites at the puppy. Esch says that the mother must know that something is wrong, andSkeetah suspects that the puppy has picked up parvo. Skeetah decides to separate the puppy from the rest ofthe litter to protect the healthy ones, and he asks Esch if she will help him when the time comes. Esch agrees.Skeetah steals some of the hurricane provisions from the kitchen and packs them for the night’s trip into thewoods to kill and bury the puppy.

Skeetah, Randall, and Esch enter the woods and find the makeshift barbecue pit that they made when theywere younger. They set out supplies, and Skeetah decides that they need more food, so he shoots a squirrelwith his BB gun. Randall refuses to clean the squirrel, so Skeetah does, but he accidentally nips the intestines.The smell forces Esch into the bushes to vomit. While the meat is cooking, Marquise, Big Henry, and Mannyarrive. Esch comments that Skeetah never named the puppy, so he tells her to give it a name. She choosesNella. Manny says that they should kill the puppy now to save it from suffering. Skeetah grabs the puppy’shead and twists, swiftly breaking its neck the way his mother used to kill chickens.

Afterward, Skeetah takes off his clothes and gets into the water of the Pit to wash the contamination off him.The others soon follow. Naked in the water, Manny approaches Esch, takes her hand and puts it on his penis.

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Esch looks at his lips and wonders why he never kisses her the way she has seen him kiss another girl. Withher other hand, she reaches for his chest, but Manny pulls away. He says her name like he is disappointed,asks her if she is crazy, and tells her that things are not that way. Esch is hurt, and all she can think of is howshe has always loved Manny. She knows that the baby is his because she has not slept with any of the otherboys since him. Then, all get out of the water and dress, except Skeetah. He leads the way home naked.

Chapter 4 Summary“The Fourth Day: Worth Stealing”

There are fleas everywhere as Esch walks toward Mother Lizbeth and Papa Joseph’s house. Little is left ofthe porch to the house, and overall, the house is dilapidated. Mama had tried to keep the house a shrine, butthe increasing needs of their own family forced her and Daddy to pilfer items from inside the house. Eschfinds Skeetah there pulling up linoleum tiles from the kitchen floor. He says that he needs to build a floor forthe puppies because the parvo must be in the dirt. They soon hear Daddy’s tractor approaching, so Skeetahthrows the tiles out the window where they will not be seen. When Daddy enters, he makes Esch boostSkeetah up to the rafters to take down plywood to use against the upcoming storms.

Skeetah asks Esch to help him with an important task, and when she agrees, he tells her that they are goinginto the woods to the east where a small house and old barn belonging to a white family are located. Skeetahfound the place one day when they were playing chase in the woods, and he knows that the family keeps cowsand supplies in the barn. He is on a mission to steal cow wormer to help the puppies. Skeetah and Esch changeinto camouflaged clothes and jog out to the barn. The two watch the house for movement and determine thatno one is home. Skeetah tells Esch to keep watch and to whistle if she sees a car or a person approaching.Then they see someone in a nearby cove of trees—Randall, Junior, and Big Henry have followed them.Randall gets Skeetah to tell him his plan, and only when Skeetah says that he plans to use some of the moneyfrom the sale of the puppies to put Randall through basketball camp does the elder brother submit. Randallalso takes up a watch post, while Big Henry takes Junior back into the woods.

Skeetah breaks a window and climbs into the barn. Outside, Esch is consumed by an intense need to go to thebathroom, so she squats at her post. Just then, Randall whistles, and she looks up to see a truck pulling into thedriveway. The man’s dog is barking behind the window. Esch whistles too. Skeetah falls headfirst out thewindow, and the man and dog get out of the truck. The dog gives chase, and the man is yelling, “Hey!” Esch,Skeetah, and Randall run toward home, the dog on their heels. Esch knows that she should be running faster,but her pregnancy betrays her. They make it home, and China hears the other dog’s barking. She immediatelyattacks the dog, gripping and shaking the dog by the neck. Esch tells Skeetah to back her off before she killsthe other dog, and Skeetah gleams in triumph—the cow wormer is in his pocket. He calls China back, and theother dog limps home through the woods, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

Chapter 5 Summary“The Fifth Day: Salvage the Bones”

In the morning, Esch bursts into the bathroom, her need to pee intense. Skeetah stands shirtless at the sink,gently tracing wounds on his stomach. He tells Esch that he was cut on the window glass while hurrying fromthe barn. Skeetah picks up an old Ace bandage that he has cleaned and bleached and tries to wrap it aroundhimself. Esch takes the bandage to help him. While she wraps him up, Esch notices that Skeetah smells likewind over the Gulf of Mexico, and this makes her think about times past when her father took themswimming there. They dug up oysters and watched the pelicans floating on the water. Once when Mama wentalong, she caught a shark, which she cooked that night in butter. Esch finishes wrapping, and Skeetah tells herthat she ran slowly the day before in the woods. Esch wonders what her pregnant body looks like to others, sowhen Skeetah leaves the bathroom, she hoists herself onto the sink so that she can see herself in the mirror.There is a “honeydew curve” under her belly button. Her T-shirts and loose jeans and shorts cover the bulge,

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and Esch plans to not tell anyone until it can no longer be avoided.

Outside, Esch’s father is underneath his dump truck trying to fix the broken parts. Junior sits next to him tohand over tools. Daddy wants the help of the other boys, but Esch says that she does not know where herbrothers are. He makes her get into the truck to try to start the engine. After several tries and more tinkering,the truck still will not start. Daddy does not know how he will make money after the hurricane without thedump truck to haul away garbage and debris for others.

Skeetah brings China out of the shed because he thinks she needs time to herself away from the puppies.Manny is there, and Skeetah tells him that he plans to take China to the upcoming dogfights so that no oneforgets that she is a “boss” dog. Manny says that his cousin will bring his dog, Rico, to fight. Esch looks atManny hoping that he will return her gaze, but he never looks at her. Manny says that China is not as boss asshe used to be, but Skeetah claims that since she is now a mother, she is as tough as she will ever be. Eschasks Skeetah if he has wormed China yet, and when Manny hears that Skeetah has not properly mixed themedicine, he warns him that he needs to cut it with oil before giving it to the dog. At home, Skeetah mixes thewormer with bacon grease, and China takes all of it.

In the bathroom, Esch recalls what she has heard from the girls talking about what to do if you are pregnant.She considers all these abortive options and concludes that none of them is an option for her. Sitting on thetoilet, Esch pulls back the makeshift curtain and sees Skeetah dragging wood to the shed. Daddy pulls into thedriveway very slowly, a sign that he is quite drunk. He curses the stores for not having the part that he needsfor his truck, and then he accuses Skeetah of taking wood from the hurricane piles. Daddy yells and curses atSkeetah, saying that none of the children appreciates what he tries to do for them. He grabs Skeetah’s arm,and China jumps forward. Skeetah tells her to hold, and Daddy says that he would call the pound if China evertried to hurt him. Daddy turns to walk into the house, all the while watching Skeetah and China.

Chapter 6 Summary"The Sixth Day: A Steady Hand"

Daddy is outside knocking down what is left of the chicken coop. Skeetah spent the night in the shed after heand Daddy fought last night, and Esch is sitting on the sofa waiting for Skeetah to come inside through thefront door to avoid seeing Daddy in the back yard. While she waits, Esch sneaks into the bathroom to devourcans of Vienna sausages from the hurricane stockpile. Eventually she gets tired of waiting and goes out to theshed. China rests her head on her paws while the puppies suckle, and Skeetah says that he knows something iswrong with the dog because she is being so mild-tempered. Esch assures him that Manny gave him the rightadvice about the wormer and suggests that he go inside to bathe. After some hesitation, Skeetah decides to goand asks her to watch the dogs. Junior creeps into the shed, fascinated with the puppies. Even though Eschwarns him away, Junior gets close enough to grab one of the puppies. Esch grips one of his arms and digs hernails into his flesh until he cries and drops the puppy. She apologizes and promises to take him to play in thepark.

When Skeetah returns, he puts the puppies in a box and forces China to her feet. She is shaking, but Skeetahsays that she needs to walk, so he puts her on her leash and practically drags her down the street. Esch runs tocatch up to them, and Junior follows on his bicycle. They walk to the park where Manny is playingbasketball—watching from the stands are his girlfriend Shaliyah and her cousin Felicia. Randall and his friendsare on the court too, and Esch sits in the grass on the outside of the court. Skeetah runs China around the trackwhile the others continue to play basketball. When the game is over, Manny goes to the stands to flirt withShaliyah, and Big Henry walks over to Esch to ask her if she wants to sit in his car, which is parked in theshade. When the sun begins to set, Big Henry piles everyone else into the car, and he drives them homefollowing Skeetah and China.

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At home, the puppies are whining for milk, and Daddy is still trying to dismantle the chicken coop. Hescreams for Randall to help. The storm now has a name—“Katrina”—and Daddy says they must be ready. Hetells Randall to get inside the tractor to drive while he directs him towards the coop. In the shed, China liesdown exhausted, but Skeetah says that she must eat and shoves a bowl of food in her direction. The puppiescreep towards her to suckle, and when the red one gets near her food bowl, she grimaces. When the puppygets near her teat, she grabs it and whips it through the air. She flings it into the tin wall of the shed, and thepuppy falls to the ground in a slump as Skeetah cries, “No!” Outside, Randall has put the tractor into gear,and Daddy also yells, “No!” He pulls his hand from the tractor; blood is everywhere. Three of his fingershave been sheared away.

Chapter 7 Summary“The Seventh Day: Game Dogs and Game Men”

All the kids except Skeetah get into Big Henry’s car to go to the hospital. Daddy sits in the front seat, hishand wrapped in a blood-soaked towel. When the nurse sees the stream of blood from Daddy’s hand, she askshim his name and whisks him away in a wheelchair. At three o’clock in the morning, Randall and Daddycome down the hall; Daddy’s eyes are glazed like they are when he is drunk. His hand is wrapped in gauzeand tape. At home, Daddy sleeps like he has not slept since Mama died. Esch takes soup and crackers into hisroom; he nibbles the crackers while watching television. Daddy then asks Esch to play with the antenna, andsoon they are able to watch the local news station that reports Katrina’s landfall in Florida. Around the roomare family pictures that have been up ever since Mama was still alive, and on the television, the reporter saysthat preparation for the storm is key. Outside, Esch can hear Skeetah and China coming through the woods.China howls and all the other dogs in the area howl with her.

Randall’s basketball game is today, and he is outside dribbling the ball and bouncing it against the house.China is barking, and when Skeetah comes inside, he says that China has forgotten that he is her master. Hehas placed her on a chain and says that he will leave her there until she figures it out. Later, Big Henry andMarquise arrive to drive everyone to the game. Big Henry asks Esch if she thinks that Randall is ready, andshe tells him that her brother has been practicing all day. Daddy is asleep when they leave for the game, andEsch leaves him water and crackers.

The gymnasium at St. Catherine’s Elementary School is dark when they arrive, and Randall goes onto thecourt to practice drills. Junior wants to go to the concession stand, so Big Henry gives him some money. Heasks Esch if she wants something too, but she says that she just needs to go to the bathroom. On her way out,Esch bumps into Manny’s cousin, Rico. Manny and Shaliyah are also there, looking fresh from thebarbershop. Esch veers around them and runs to the bathroom. Inside, Esch takes the farthest stall and crieswhile sitting with her face pressed against her knees. When she opens the stall door, Manny is standing insidethe bathroom. He says that he has been thinking about her before he pushes Esch back into the stall. Hethen takes off her shorts and underwear and pulls her down to straddle him. She grabs his face and forcesManny to look at her. He caresses her body until his hands fall on the swell of her stomach. Now he knows.Manny curses and throws Esch off of him. She hits the stall door and slumps onto the ground, and Mannyflees the bathroom. Esch sits on the floor and cries.

Big Henry sends Junior to the bathroom to check on Esch, and she returns to the game. She realizes thatManny, Shaliyah, and Rico are sitting only a few seats in front of them. Skeetah curses Manny from thebleachers, and Rico gets up to talk to Skeetah about the puppies that his dog Kilo sired with China. Ricowants to stake his claim, but Skeetah tells him that he has no right to any of the puppies. Manny gets up tointervene, but Skeetah is angry and punches Rico. The brawl spills to the gym floor, and the coach blows hiswhistle and tells Randall to leave with his people. Rico says that they will finish the fight at thedog-fights—Marquise’s cousin’s dog Boss will stand in for China. Skeetah agrees to let Rico have the puppyof his choice if his dog Kilo wins the fight.

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Chapter 8 Summary“The Eighth Day: Make Them Know”

The next morning, Junior tries to get Esch out of bed but she rolls away from him, feeling the hurt of the daybefore. Still he pesters her—Skeetah has said that Junior cannot go to the dog-fight unless Esch takes him.Esch gets up and Junior tells her that Randall made Daddy’s breakfast earlier that morning. In Daddy’sroom, a map of the hurricane is on the television screen and two cans of beer are on the nightstand next to thebed. Junior follows Esch and she tells him that they can go see the dog-fight. Outside, Skeetah is bathingChina, who recognizes her master. Randall is outside too, arguing with Skeetah about his behavior during thegame. Skeetah says that Randall had no right to make an offer to Rico, but Randall says that Skeetah ruinedhis chances of getting into basketball camp so he did what was necessary. When Skeetah is done bathingChina, she is blindingly white.

China leads the way on the trail through the woods until they reach a clearing that appears to be a dried-uppond. Many boys are there with their dogs. They smoke and ask each other questions about their dogs.Marquise introduces them to his cousin Jerome whose dog Boss will fight Kilo on China’s behalf. Boss is allblack with a white muzzle, and he is huge. The dog’s hair is coarse and marred with scars from previousfights. On the other side of the clearing, Rico’s dog Kilo is straining at the leash and digging into the dirt.Jerome is confident that Boss is ready for the fight. The dog-masters leave the leashes in the hands of friendswhile they enter the circle of the clearing. Rico only intends for Kilo to fight Boss in the last match. Skeetahand China stand off to the side, surveying the clearing. Skeetah fought China when she turned one year old,and she often won by grabbing the throat of another dog and holding tight until the dog yelped. The otherdogs appear to be afraid of her—none come over to sniff her or mouth her shoulder.

The first fight is quick and messy. The others continue until at last, it is Rico’s time to bring Kilo into theclearing. Jerome walks up with Boss and gets him ready. At the call, the two dogs barrel towards each otherand clash in the middle. They rise on their hind legs and Boss gets the first bite. After a few more blows,Jerome yells, “Come on, son!” to urge Boss to win, but Boss thinks that his master is calling him back. Whenhe retreats, Kilo jumps onto Boss’s back. The boys end the round and decide to have the dogs fight again tosettle the score. But in the end, there is no clear winner as neither dog will submit. Rico claims that Kilo wonthe fight and demands that Skeetah give him the white puppy. Skeetah says that Rico has no right to call thefight and unhooks China’s chain.

Randall tries to dissuade Skeetah from fighting China because she is a new mother, but Skeetah will not listento his reasoning. He pulls China aside and talks to her quietly in her ear, mumbling, “Make them know.”China and Kilo take their places at the edge of the clearing, and when Skeetah yells, “Go,” both dogs run.China is so fast that she meets Kilo before he can even get to the middle of the clearing. She grabs the back ofhis neck and rips at the flesh. Rico calls for his dog to fend off the attack, and Kilo grabs China’s leg. Neitherdog will let go, so the boys call them off. Rico wipes Kilo’s neck before the dogs fight a second round. Thedogs bite at each other until finally, when the dogs are on their hind legs, Kilo swoops down and bites thenipple off one of China’s teats. He grabs hold of China and shakes her on the ground. Again, the boys call offthe dogs. Rico thinks that he has a good chance of winning the fight as the dogs go into the third round. Butthis time, China is enraged, and when Kilo tries to bite her teat again, she snaps her jaws around his neck. Kiloscreams loudly, marking the end of the fight and China as the winner.

Chapter 9 Summary“The Ninth Day: Hurricane Eclipse”

Esch is woken by the sound of Daddy vomiting in the bathroom. He calls for Randall who is still in his bed.Skeetah is not in the room though. After the dog fight, Skeetah cleaned and treated China’s wounds and musthave slept outside in the shed with her. In the bathroom, Daddy tells Randall that he is sick and needs to stay

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by the toilet, but Randall and Esch carry him back to bed and promise to put a garbage pail next to the bed.Randall searches for Daddy’s medicine and asks him if his hand hurts. Randall tells Daddy that he is notsupposed to drink while on his pain medication and antibiotics, but Daddy shakes his head and says that beeris not really like drinking alcohol. He insists that he needs to get the house ready for the hurricane, but Randallsays that the kids will take care of the preparations.

Today, the wind is gusting stronger than it has before. Esch goes out to Daddy’s truck and finds a flashlight,drill, hammer, and nails. Skeetah comes out of the shed and says that he cannot help because he needs to keepan eye on China. Randall has turned on the truck’s radio and a news announcer says that Hurricane Katrinahas now become a category 3 storm and is scheduled to make landfall in Louisiana sometime Mondaymorning. Skeetah says that he needs to go to the store for more supplies, and Randall tells him to pick upcanned food while he is there. Randall tells Skeetah that they need his help, but Big Henry is already on theway.

Esch needs Junior to pick the nails out of the bin with his small fingers, but he is nowhere to be found. Inside,Esch finds him standing in front of Daddy’s bed. Junior says that Daddy was not breathing. Esch drags Juniordown the hall and asks him what he was doing. Junior says that he knows all about Daddy’s sickness, hishand, the beer, and the medicine. Then he tells Esch that he found Daddy’s wedding ring and flings it acrossthe hallway. Junior runs and hides under the house. When Randall finds him, Junior wails that the ring was nolonger any good for Daddy and that he wanted to keep it to remind him of his mother. When Randall and Eschtell Skeetah what Junior has done, he laughs and says that his little brother is wild. Esch has put the ring in hertop drawer to keep it safe.

The kids busy themselves with carrying out Daddy’s instructions:

"Cover the windows." Junior holds the nails in his shirt while Esch and Randall match boards to the windowsof the house. Randall hammers in the nails, and in the process, smashes two of his fingers.

"Bring the jugs of water in." Junior and Esch carry in the glass jugs of water that they have filled. They cleanthe dust off the bottles with a rag.

"Fill my gas tank." Randall drives Daddy’s truck to the gas station, and Esch looks at the rugs that her motherfit in the cab to cover the hot upholstery.

"Cook whatever’s in the ‘frigerator." Esch cooks the eggs and bologna that are left in the refrigerator andRandall and Junior drink what is left of the milk.

"Park my truck in the clearing by the pit." Randall drives the truck through the woods, and the chickensscatter. He parks the truck by the makeshift grill.

"Get the cheapest you can get." At the grocery store, Skeetah has spent money on supplies for China and hasonly brought back canned peas and a dozen packs of Top Ramen for the family. Randall is angry, but Skeetahsays that the store had been wiped out of food. Skeetah says that they still have dog food, but Randall saysthat none of them are dogs.

Chapter 10 Summary“The Tenth Day: In the Endless Eye”

Esch eats all of Skeetah’s eggs and bologna because he has stayed outside in the shed with China. Randallcurses and throws a can of tomato paste across the room after he counts the meager food supplies that arestored for the family. After breakfast, Esch overhears Randall telling Daddy that they do not have enough

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food, and Daddy tells him that if they cannot cook during the storm, then they will have to eat the Ramennoodles dry. He adds that they will make do with what they have. He then asks for his wedding ring, and Eschretrieves it from her drawer. He goes back to his room because he is the only one who can stand being insidethe boarded-up house; meanwhile, all the children go outside. There is no sun, and the wind blows hard.Skeetah is piling things outside the shed while China chases the chickens. Esch says that they need more food.Randall suggests that they look for more eggs and boil them so that they do not have to go to the refrigerator.Skeetah does not join them because he says that he needs to exercise China. In the woods, the chickens havehidden their eggs away in preparation for the coming storm. Esch thinks back to when her mother taught thekids how to find eggs—Randall finds them in the most difficult places and fills Junior’s shirt with twenty-foureggs to carry home.

As they approach home, Randall, Esch, and Junior meet Manny. He apologizes to Randall for having gotteninto a fight with Skeetah. Randall says that Skeetah believes that Manny wanted to poison China and that he is“dogging” Esch. Manny denies it and says that he considers them family. But Randall says that he does notthink Manny regards his siblings as family, and he retires to the kitchen. Manny walks away, but Esch calls tohim and blurts out that she is pregnant. Manny shakes his head and says that the baby is not his. Esch hasalways been a fighter; now she pounces on Manny, poking his Adam’s apple and clawing his face. Shescreams that she once loved him; in defense, he calls her crazy. Manny then grabs Esch under her arms andflings her backward. Manny calls her a slut and says that even her brothers know that she has slept with everyboy in the Pit. Esch tells him that when the baby is born, the truth will be known.

Randall later finds Esch sitting in the ditch. She is crying, but she says that nothing is wrong when he asksher. He says that they need to go through the woods to the white people’s house to steal food. No animalsappear in the woods, and no one is home when they get to the house. Randall kicks through the plywood andglass in one window, but when they peer inside, they see that the woman has removed everything from thehouse. They silently walk back home. When they get there, Skeetah brings the dogs inside his and Randall’sbedroom and says that they cannot stay in the shed during the hurricane. Randall tells Daddy, and after somedebate, they decide that Skeetah will stay with the dogs in the bedroom, and Randall will sleep with Juniorand Esch in the living room. Daddy says that the reporters are now calling the hurricane a category 5. Skeetahsays that everything deserves a chance to live.

Chapter 11 Summary“The Eleventh Day: Katrina”

Esch wonders where all the animals go when hurricanes occur. She used to think that all the animals ranaway, but now she thinks that the small animals just hunker down in their homes to wait out the storms. Thetelephone always rings on the day before a hurricane to play a message from the state governmentencouraging evacuation and warning residents about the potential consequences of staying in the area during ahurricane. The hurricane becomes real when people realize that they could die during the storm. The worsthurricane that Esch remembers, Hurricane Elaine, a category 3, happened when she was eight years old.Randall and Daddy slept through the storm, but Skeetah and Esch had sat up with Mama in the living room,watching the trees blow in the wind from the slits between the boards over the windows. Now, the house isquiet because the power has gone out. Esch is the first to wake, and she sits and listens to the howling windthat makes the house creak. All is gray outside. Skeetah wakes, and Esch asks him if he is scared. He says thathe is not because they are not on the bay where he thinks the storm will be the worst. Esch recalls that Mamasaid the wind howled this way during Hurricane Camille, another category 5 storm. Skeetah asks Esch if sheremembers the last thing that Mama said to her. She cannot, so Skeetah reminds her, “Look after each other.”

The kids sit near the window trying to find the source of a dog’s frantic barking outside. China squeals andlooks at the ceiling moments before a loud boom rocks the house. A tree has fallen onto the house andprotrudes into Daddy’s room. Daddy takes a plastic bag of pictures out of his dresser and stuffs it down his

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pants before leaving the room. The family huddles in the living room as the storms whips outside. A whilelater, Randall accuses Junior of peeing on himself, but then all realize that water is coming up through thefloorboards. They look outside and see a pool of water in the yard—the Pit has overflowed. The water creepsup the family’s legs, and Daddy says that they must get into the attic. All clamor up the stairs, and Skeetahshuts the door behind them. Daddy says that the water has never come back this far from the Pit before. Thewater and wind beat off the thin roof, and Randall says that he once heard about a family drowning in theirattic during a storm. Soon water comes through the floor of the attic, and Skeetah finds a chain saw and beginsbanging a hole in the roof. Light comes through the hole, and Randall climbs out into the storm.

The family huddles together on the roof watching the water consume everything around the house. Skeetahwraps China in his jeans and ties her to him like a sling. He sees that Mother Lizbeth and Papa Joseph’shouse juts from the top of the water—it has been built on a hill. He proposes that they use the nearby tree tocross the water to the house. They leap for the branches while Skeetah leads. Esch is carrying a bucket withChina’s puppies over her shoulder, and she presses on although it digs into her skin. Skeetah tells Daddy thathe will swim across and break a window in the house, and he wants Esch to follow so that she is safe. He tellsDaddy that Esch is pregnant, and in disgust, Daddy pushes Esch away. The bucket is launched from her armas Esch falls into the water. Esch tries to swim, but she is overpowered by the water. Skeetah releases Chinafrom the sling, and he dives into the water to save his sister. China swims to keep her head above water, andthe current pulls her towards the woods. Randall breaks the window glass, and the family climbs into the topfloor of the house. Skeetah braces himself on the roof, wailing, “No!”

Chapter 12 Summary“The Twelfth Day: Alive”

The family sits in the attic of Mother Lizbeth and Papa Joseph's house until the wind quiets and water recedes.Esch scoots past everyone to get to Skeetah who is sitting near a gap in the roof. He looks outside like hewants to jump. Esch touches him between his shoulders, and his skin is hot to the touch. He jerks but does notlook at her. He says that he has failed China, but Esch reminds him that he did not fail his family. He starts toshake, and Esch tightly embraces him. Skeetah says that as soon as the water gets down to the middle of thetires on the truck outside, he is going to go out to search for China. But he cannot wait that long, and as soonas he sees the first sliver of a tire poke through the water, he goes out through the hole in the window. Daddyand Randall try to stop him, but Skeetah says that China is waiting for him and he cannot be stopped.

When all the water recedes, Daddy’s truck is covered with muddy slime. The family trudges through puddlesof cold water that fill the yard and find the back door has been blown open. Inside the house is wet andmuddy. They find some food that has been sealed away, and they wrap it up in their shirts. Randall says thatthey cannot stay in the house and that they need to find better shelter, so they head for Big Henry’s house.The landscape all around is smashed to bits, and when they get to Big Henry’s house, he says that they werelucky that all the trees fell away from their house. He tells them that he and his mother have lots of space inthe house and that they are welcome to stay. Across the road, Manny is sitting in a white pickup truck, and hestares across the crowd. Randall asks Esch if he is the father of her baby, and she nods. They walk pastwithout acknowledging him. Big Henry’s mother Ms. Bernadine welcomes them into her home and sets totaking care of them. Esch wonders where Skeetah is and imagines him sitting before a fire waiting for Chinato come home. Big Henry’s uncle Solly arrives and brings news of the destruction that the hurricane hascaused, bridges knocked out and roads full of water. Daddy apologizes to Esch for pushing her into the waterduring the storm and tells her to make sure she takes care of herself so that the baby is healthy. Esch knowsthat she will name the baby Rose after her mother if it is a girl and Jason after Skeetah if it is a boy.

Big Henry decides to drive into St. Catherine to survey the damage, so Randall, Esch, and Junior pile into histruck. Many trees lie in the road and stores have been smashed, their contents spewed into the streets. Houseshave been knocked off their foundations. From the rubble of the liquor store, Randall fishes out a bottle for

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Daddy to help ease the pain in his hand. Big Henry squats next to Esch and tells her that he overheard theconversation that she had with her father about the baby. Esch says that the baby does not have a father, andBig Henry corrects her by saying that the baby will have many daddies to look after it. He assures Esch that hewill always be by her side.

Back at their house, Skeetah has made a clearing in the yard. Esch and the others have brought him food.Randall tries to persuade Skeetah to come down to Big Henry’s house, but Skeetah will not leave. Esch tellshim that if China comes home she will stay put, but Skeetah says there are no ifs about it and he means to bethere when she returns. Esch, Randall, and Junior all sit with Skeetah to watch over him while he waits. Eschknows that China will return and regard her as a mother.

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