The Girls in the Stilt House

On August 29, 1923, it’s been five months since the fire that killed the Pattersons and four months since Matilda moved in with Ada. After the fire, only Gertie, Stella Mae, and Pastor Brown knew Matilda was alive. One night, shortly after the fire, she went back to the ashes of her old house and found Dalton’s ball-peen hammer. After that, she began exploring the woods and looking for Virgil Morgan’s house, and she dreamed of taking revenge on him. It was empty when she found it, and she saw Ada arrive. Matilda saw Virgil light the shed on fire and heard Ada scream. She killed him to save Ada, which makes her feel a sense of redemption and defeat. His death brings her no relief, and neither does naming Ada’s baby Annis.

That fall, Ada struggles with breastfeeding, but Matilda knows how to help her. Ada asks how Matilda knows so much, and Matilda explains that she learns things—like how to skin a rabbit—by doing them. No one taught her. Matilda makes a beautiful crib for Annis from some supplies she finds around the house. Ada feels like they are beginning to get closer, and she is relieved.