Tar Baby

Content Warning: These chapters contain scenes of domestic violence and instances of racism and the use of slurs.

Jadine and Son travel to Eloe, Florida, taking first a plane, then a bus, and finally a car ride. They stop first at Soldier’s house, an old friend of Son’s, and Soldier and everyone else in the area are excited to see Son. They tell him that Sally Brown, his ex-mother-in-law, finally died, and Jadine can see the relief on his face. Son leaves Jadine at Soldier’s house and goes to visit his father, Old Man. Son is excited to see him, and when Old Man tells Son of Sally Brown’s death, he also tells Son that she slept with a shotgun, waiting to kill Son if he ever came back to town. She also looked for the boy who survived the fire, but he and his family left town after the incident. Old Man wants to meet Jadine, but because the couple is unmarried, Old Man tells Son that Jadine must stay with Son’s aunt, Rosa. When Son asks about the money orders he sent to his father, Old Man tells him he never used all of them, and kept the envelopes, attached to his name in his own handwriting. Son’s name is Franklin Green.

Back at Soldier’s, Jadine struggles to hold a conversation with the other women until she remembers her camera and creates an informal photo shoot. When Son returns, he interrupts the shoot and brings her to Old Man’s, then to Rosa’s to settle in, and then finally out to a bar in neighboring Poncie with friends before bringing her back to Rosa’s for the night. At Rosa’s, Jadine stays in a windowless room that used to be a porch and struggles to sleep. She gets up in the middle of the night, naked and hot and walks out the door to the yard, where she is stunned by the absolute darkness and loud noise of the plants in the wind. Rosa finds her and gives her a shift to cover herself, making Jadine feel more naked and obscene than ever before. As she settles back into bed, she reminds herself that she just needs to make it until the next day before they leave.

The next morning, Sunday, Son and his friend take Rosa to church, leaving Jadine and Soldier to eat breakfast at Rosa’s alone. Soldier asks Jadine about marriage and says that Cheyenne, Son’s ex-wife, was known for offering the best sex in town. Jadine pushes back, and it is clear to her that Soldier wants her gone. She tells him that they plan to leave that day, and he immediately protests, as a friend from Montgomery, Alabama, is coming to see Son. Jadine begs Son to leave but he pleads with her to stay, saying he will sneak into her room that night. Son keeps his promise, but Jadine cannot fall asleep, as all of the women in their lives appear in a vision around their bed. Jadine believes the vision stems from her insecurity hearing about Cheyenne, but nevertheless, the women keep her from sleep.

The next day, Jadine demands they leave for New York and Son assents, agreeing to send her back on the train and promising to fly home the next day after his friend leaves, if she swears she’ll be waiting for him. Jadine returns to New York, but Son doesn’t show for a long while and never calls. His behavior angers Jadine and makes her more anxious about the night women who visit her. She believes the women are judging her and trying to destroy the person she works so hard to be. When Son finally returns, they fight and she believes it is because of the night women. She wants Son to go to school or start a business using money she’s received from Valerian. He struggles with her commitment to Valerian and feels she’s choosing Valerian over himself and her own family. He refuses the money, and she calls him uneducated, and he tells her that if she did not learn about people like Son and her aunt and uncle in school, she learned nothing. Their fights turn violent, but despite the violence, they always make up. In one instance, Son dangles Jadine out of their window, but when the police show up not too long after, the two are so affectionate and loving with each other the police wonder if they have the wrong apartment.

They finally agree that they will be married, and Son will go to school. Jadine fills out school applications for him. The stress of their relationship is aging her, and she begins missing out on modeling gigs. She talks of how hard life is in the city and how much she hates Eloe, calling it Son’s cradle and preaching sexual equality to him. He is confused by her preaching, as he finds the hardest living and the most independent and capable women he knows in Eloe. In September, Jadine receives $1,246 in municipal bonds from Valerian and when she suggests that they use the money to pay for Son’s school, he refuses. Both Son and Jadine believe they are helping the other escape their past lives. Jadine wants to help Son escape from the overbearing women whom she believes are holding him back, while Son wants to help Jadine escape from the influence he believes white men have on her. When Son suggests that Jadine just wants to turn everyone white, the fight that ensues is their worst yet, and she swears to kill him. He leaves the apartment, and when he returns, Jadine makes it clear that their relationship is over and that she will not let him hurt her again. She gives him a dime from Valerian’s money, telling him that his original dime likely came to him in much the same way, from a white man. Son leaves again, and when he comes back to get his things, Jadine is gone. He sees the photos Jadine took in Eloe, and the shining image he has of his hometown fades and he promises himself to be whoever she wants him to be, if he can only find her first.