Wednesday Morning
September 5, 1951
- As the book opens, we find ourselves in a cotton field. A dog howls, some birds sing… a tornado touches down. Yikes.
- A woman named Patience is in the field, too pregnant to run from the twister and instead crouched on the ground along with the other workers.
- Remember that howling dog? Yeah, the tornado snatches it up—just like that, no more howling.
- Patience starts to move, but someone named Mother Barker stops her. Patience is certain she's about to die, and given what just happened to that dog, we can't say we blame her. This tornado is close.
- A row over, a kid named Bessie Lightsey sucks her thumb and hangs on her mom's skirt, captivated by the twister.
- The tornado veers toward the people in the field, and Mother Barker starts to pray, calling on God to spare them and let Patience's unborn child, er, be born.
- The tornado keeps coming, though, tearing up rows of cotton as is tears toward Patience and Mother Barker and the others nervously watching in the field.
- And then, just like that, the tornado lifts off and disappears. See ya, twister.
- After a few beats, the women start to laugh. The field is filled with women, and the only man is the foreman and Mother Barker's husband.
- Mother Barker checks Patience's belly and finds the baby is okay. Phew.
- Cotton picking resumes and Patience out picks Mother Barker. She says the picking is easy today, but as she gazes at birds, she longs to fly away.
- When the workday is done, Patience scrubs her cabin, scouring the floor and banging out her quilts to rid them of dust. Mother Barker drops off some food, and as Patience eats by the fire, she wonders about her baby and thinks about her husband, a man named Strong whom she chose out of all her suitors for his ambition and his ability to make her laugh.
- Patience drifts to sleep in her chair, then rises and tucks herself into bed, exhausted.