The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

Nine days into her treatment, Cussy Mary is still feeling ill. She visits Cole at the fire tower, and he runs down to see her. His face is bruised. Ruth, his girlfriend, is also there, with injuries on her face. She says that they could have lived with her father, but there’s more room in the watchtower. Cole gives Cussy Mary yellow root, which makes her feel better, and introduces her to Ruth, thanking her for her help in getting them together. As Cussy Mary leaves, he explains that he had to fight all the men in Ruth’s family to win her. Cussy Mary wonders if anyone would fight for her.

Cussy Mary heads into town on a very hot Fourth of July. She is going to the picnic, bringing her Scripture cake, which cost a lot of money to make. Because her skin is now white, she can take part for the first time. She arrives, surveying the scene. Kids are playing, the atmosphere is festive, and there is a raffle for a celebration quilt. The Company has donated goods. She remembers the last time she attended the picnic, when she was little: Cussy Mary and the other Blues faced intense bullying. Pa doesn’t like that she’s going this year, saying that the town will still see her as an outsider.

Nobody at the picnic is paying attention to Cussy Mary, and she briefly feels like she belongs. She sees Lovett but avoids him, instead going to the sewing circle to admire the quilt. The women there are gossiping about Lovett as a potential match for Constance. Cussy Mary puts her cake down on the table, getting a headache. She greets Constance, asking if she can join the sewing circle. Constance refuses, saying they want to keep the circle limited to seven people. As Cussy Mary turns away, one of the women calls her a heathen. Cussy Mary takes her cake and goes back to Junia. Lovett approaches her, but she rides away. 

Though Cussy Mary has the day off for the holiday, she goes to the outpost, still feeling sick. She encounters Oren Taft, a library patron, in his family’s old graveyard. He lives up an impossible pass, so they meet at his old homestead, an eight-mile hike for him. He gives her a bag that he says will make her feel better, including biscuits. She tells him that there will be a new posting for a librarian, Queenie’s old position. Though few men take librarian work, it is paid, and she thinks his old homestead could be his outpost. He’s excited about the possibility. As they part, he tells her that he misses her old color, which always made him think of Picasso. 

That weekend, Cussy Mary faints. Pa calls her vain for taking the medicine, and she decides it will be the last time she will take the medicine: “Blue had to be enough for me, I vowed” (122). Doc doesn’t protest this; he rarely sees Cussy Mary anymore.

Cussy Mary goes back to the schoolyard to find it quiet. The school is closed; the WPA is developing a new one. Winnie is going to live with Albert in Detroit, as she cannot stay and teach without her husband’s consent. Henry is too weak to come for books now, so Cussy Mary visits him the next day. His mother thinks he will die by the morning. Cussy Mary brings a food sack Doc brought by. Henry’s mother tries to give Cussy Mary a crucifix to thank her, but she won’t take it. Henry is too weak to take the book from Cussy Mary. She has brought him a librarian badge she made for him, telling him he is an honorary librarian now. Henry reads from the book to the entire family.