- Jade tells Margaret about finding Valerian and the intruder laughing together. Margaret can't believe it, because their laughing together in private means that Valerian isn't just putting on a show for everyone. It means he might actually like the intruder.
- They talk about the situation in the house, and Margaret reaffirms that she won't come out of her room until the intruder leaves. She even suggests to Jade that they fly away to Miami until everything calms down at the house.
- But as the narrator tells us, Margaret and Jade forget all about their plans the next time they see the intruder because they find him so beautiful. We're not sure what this means yet, so we'll have to wait and read on. It sounds like juicy gossip, though.
- We return to the moment Jade walked out of her bedroom after her run-in with the intruder. The guy sits in Jade's chair and lights a cigarette. He stares at her baby seal skin coat and feels like its blackness looks inviting. The sight makes him think of all the seals he's seen swimming alongside boats in his life.
- He steps into Jade's shower and washes himself for the first time in what must be weeks. He makes sure to use all of Jade's fancy-pants bath products.
- When he's done, he goes to Jade's window and stares out at nature. This is no doubt the moment that Gideon, or "Yardman," sees him half-naked at the window, as he told Thérèse in the last chapter.
- The intruder realizes that everyone in the house is afraid of him except for Valerian. He remembers hitching a ride back to shore on the small yacht when Margaret and Jade were using it. (Ah, so the two women were Margaret and Jade!)
- He hadn't intended to follow them back to their house. Or at least that's what he keeps telling himself.
- While he tells himself this, he reminisces about the forests and swamps he lived in for up to a week after jumping ship. His memories also include the names of people he knew while he was growing up: names like Drake, Soldier, and Ernie Paul.
- His memories eventually lead him to the moment that Margaret found him hiding in her closet. During this period, he snuck into Jade's room to watch her sleep more than once, and he found that while doing this he has built up an insane desire for her.
- He has changed his identity so many times in his life that he can barely remember his original name, which is Son. The dude probably didn't have very imaginative parents.
- While looking out the window, Son (the intruder) sees Yardman bending over and working on the Streets' yard.
- Meanwhile in the greenhouse, Valerian peers through the windows at the nearby shed where his washer and dryer are. They don't need to be in a separate building, but he decided to do it because having a separate washing shed reminded him of when he was a kid.
- While he was growing up, Valerian would talk to the woman who'd wash his family clothes in a shed in their backyard. Every day, she'd ask him what his daddy was doing. But one day, his father kicked the bucket.
- Valerian had to tell the washerwoman that his father was dead. To comfort him, she invited him to come to her and do some washing.
- When Valerian's family found out about him hanging with the washerwoman, they fired her. Valerian still feels nostalgic about that shed in his backyard, though.
- Next, Valerian thinks about how much he went on and on to Jade the night before about his relationship with Michael and his hopes for him.
- We get some background about Valerian's first marriage, which seems like it was brutal. This first wife had two abortions while they were married, and the last thing she said to Valerian on her deathbed was that she was happy she'd had them.
- He wonders for a while about his son Michael, who seems devoted to helping the less fortunate of the world. Michael has spent years working on a reservation school in California, but Valerian thinks that his liberal son is just poking his nose in other people's business.
- Valerian wonders what he's going to do about the intruder in his house, then realizes that he has no immediate plans to get rid of the guy.
- While he's peering out the greenhouse window, Valerian is interrupted by the intruder. Dude just says "Hey," and enters the room wearing a woman's kimono. Slick.
- He also tells Valerian that his name is Willie Green, which it isn't. Although if our name was Son (or Daughter) we might like the name Willie Green better.
- Son asks Valerian if he plans on calling the police. Then asks if he can have one of Valerian's old suits so he can look proper when he goes to jail. Points for being suave, Son.
- Eventually, Valerian tells Son (a.k.a. Willie) that he won't turn him into the police and that he'll try to help get the guy a passport.
- As they speak, Valerian frowns at some flower buds that have refused to bloom in his greenhouse. Son tells him that he needs to move them around in order to get them to bloom, since flowers are used to being knocked around by the wind.
- He flicks a few of the buds.
- Son makes a deal with Valerian: if the flowers bloom, Valerian will buy Son a brand new suit. If they die, Sydney will chase Son with a gun back into the sea.
- After the agreement, Son tells Valerian a joke about black prostitutes, which gets both of them laughing. This is no doubt the moment that Jade sees them laughing together in the greenhouse.
- Next, we flash to Sydney laying out some clothes for Son. He has flat-out refused to cut Son's hair, so Valerian has sent Son off with Yardman and Thérèse to get a haircut and some new shoes that fit him.
- While Son is in their company, Gideon and Thérèse parade him around as a guest from a faraway country. Their neighbors visit to meet the guy, and the household is overjoyed to have someone new around.
- It becomes clear by the way she changes clothes that Gideon's younger relative, Alma Estée, wants to impress Son. She changes into her school uniform, though it's clear from the wear on the clothing that Alma Estée hasn't paid tuition or attended school in a long time.
- Thérèse asks Son all kinds of questions about America, including questions about abortion and sex change operations. Son confirms all of her suspicions without really listening that closely.
- While they're hanging out, Gideon tells Son the story of how the slaves who first arrived on Isle des Chevaliers were struck blind. Later, their ancestors would continue to go blind once they reached their forties. Thérèse is apparently one of these people.
- Gideon asks if Son is going to stay on the island in order to be close to Jade. Son more or less admits this is true, but Gideon warns him about girls like Jade. They act like they're white and can't help it, he says. All in all, Gideon thinks that Jade is bad news.
- As Son gets up to leave for a night on the town with Gideon, Alma Estée springs into action and asks Son to buy her a wig from America that she's been saving for. Gideon, however, just pushes her away.
- Next thing you know, Son is standing at the piano in Valerian's house and asking Jade whether Valerian would mind him using the piano. Jade can barely answer, though, because Son looks so beautiful with his suit and new haircut. She finally says that it's not up for her to decide.
- Son apologizes for grabbing her in her bedroom the day before. Jade isn't satisfied, though, because the people Son should truly apologize to are her aunt and uncle, Ondine and Sydney.
- After Son leaves, Jade thinks about how handsome he is. Then she thinks about what she's doing with her life and when she plans on leaving Valerian's house to go either back to Paris or to New York.
- Cut to Son, who leaves Jade in the piano room and heads into the house's second kitchen to apologize to Ondine and Sydney. Ondine is there alone, and after a little angling, Son is able to get her to accept his apology. When Sydney comes back, though, Son has problems.
- Basically, it's not just Son's trespassing that bothers Sydney. Sydney thinks of himself as a very specific "type" of black person, the polite and civilized type.
- But he thinks of Son as a good-for-nothing scoundrel. In other words, Sydney has spent his life doing what he's told and he takes a lot of pride in that. Son, on the other hand, seems to have never once done what he's been told.
- As he leaves the kitchen, Son asks Ondine and Sydney if there's somewhere he could sleep outside Valerian's house that might be comfortable. He doesn't want to sleep in the guest suite out of respect for Sydney and Ondine. The two servants tell him they'll think about it.
- Later that night, everyone seems fairly peaceful. Valerian eats with Margaret and Jade, and everyone seems to be happy. Meanwhile, Son lies in a hammock outside the house, wondering about his solitary, aimless life. He also can't stop thinking about Jade.
- The next morning, Son asks Jade if she'd like to eat lunch with him down on a nearby beach. She agrees, mentioning that she'd like to spend some time on the beach before she leaves. The thought of her leaving upsets Son, but he plays it cool.
- The two of them drive down to the beach in a jeep. While they sit there, Jade tries to sketch Son, but he keeps moving around. She then asks him what he wants out of life, and he says that all he wants is his "original dime." He wants the first dime he ever earned, since getting it was the greatest feeling of his life. The guy sounds like Uncle Scrooge fawning over his "Number One Dime".
- Jade tells Son that he's downright lazy and totally empty of ambition. She has absolutely no respect for the fact that he has set his expectations for life so low.
- Son gets offended and tells her that all her ambition isn't worth much, either. They argue for a while about who has the better outlook on life. For Jade, it's all about success. For Son, it's all about comfort and playing by your own rules.
- As they argue, Son admits to Jade that the reason he had to leave home and go on the run was because he killed somebody. His ex-wife, to be exact. Yup, that's what he did.
- Turns out that one day, Son came home and found his wife Cheyenne having sex with someone else. Son went back outside and drove his car through the house. Unfortunately, his car caught fire and burned up the house. Cheyenne died in the fire, while Son was able to rescue the lover, who was just a thirteen-year-old kid. Whoa.
- As he tells this story, Son notices that Jade has tucked her legs under her skirt. He promises her that he'll never hurt her because he loves her.
- Yeah, the guy just dropped the murder bomb and the love bomb in the same conversation.
- Son asks if he can touch Jade's foot, then does with her permission. After that, Jade decides that it's time to head back to the house.
- Son drives the jeep on their way back. Halfway there, though, the jeep runs out of gas. Son gets out and starts backtracking to the beach, where there's a gas pump sitting on the dock.
- While Son is gone, Jade wanders into a nearby forest and gets stuck in the ground. At first, she thinks she's stuck in mud, but after a while, she realizes that it's something blacker and stickier, like tar.
- Once she sinks up to her knees, she realizes that she might die and starts crying. By strategizing and staying patient, though, she is able to slowly pull herself out of the tar and crawl back onto the road. When Son returns, she is crying and trying to clean her legs off with leaves.
- By the time they get back to the house, Jade is in her underwear (after trying to clean her skirt). Margaret sees them come in and glares at Son, but before she can say anything, Jade explains what happened.
- When Jade hops in the tub, Margaret comes into the bathroom and tells her that Son is bad luck.
- This time, it's Jade's turn to defend Son. She says that he won't be around for long and that he won't ruin Michael's visit. She even begins to resent Margaret for thinking that Son would want to rape her (Margaret) when she's so old. But then again, Jade thinks, white women always assume men want to rape them, no matter how old they get.