The Little Friend

The next morning, Hely’s dad asks him where his bike is, and Hely realizes he left it near Eugene’s apartment. Harriet’s mother makes her toast for breakfast, which is a rarity. Ida is there but at first is quiet. She then asks why Harriet “told on” her, considering how good she is to Harriet and Allison. Ida knows that Harriet was mad at her for not staying late to tell her stories, but Ida has work to do at her own house at night. Harriet feels guilty and goes to work in Ida’s garden, hoping to please her. She can’t find the red gloves that Ida gave her as a present—the only one because she has little money. Hely appears and says they need to retrieve the bikes, but Harriet is too focused on the gloves and Ida; she says she’ll go later.

Harriet picks some vegetables from the garden and brings them to Ida. Ida ignores this and instead remarks that Charlotte says she does a bad job, but this is not Ida’s fault because of Charlotte’s messiness and hoarding. Also, Libby pays Odean $35 a week for less work than Ida is expected to do for $20 a week. Charlotte claims she doesn’t need Ida now that the girls are older. Harriet goes upstairs and sees Allison crying at her mother’s bed. Charlotte asks to be left alone.

Harriet and Hely return to Eugene’s apartment to get their bikes and the snake. Neither one of them wants to hide the snake at their house, so they settle on keeping it past the train station, on the outskirts of town, near a water tower and an overpass. Meanwhile, Gum has jury duty coming up soon, and although Danny had originally planned to drive her there, he decides he’ll let her drive.

The following day, Ida’s attitude is different, and she now seems optimistic about her future. She’ll move to Hattiesburg with her daughter and work for a different family there. Harriet tries to get Edie to convince Charlotte not to fire Ida, but Edie refuses. The aunts arrive and tell Harriet not to complain or talk about money and that losing housekeepers is just part of life. Libby sympathizes with Harriet because she also loves Odean.

Hely finds Harriet reading old newspapers about Robin in the library. They see Danny’s truck parked nearby and notice it has a sunroof that somebody could throw a snake into. They go up to the overpass where they left the snake and wait for Danny’s truck to pass by beneath them. When the car comes, they drop the snake into it at the exact right moment so it lands in the car. The driver slows down and gets out, but it’s not Danny. It’s someone else the kids don’t recognize: Gum. She’s been bit and shakes the snake loose. The snake retreats into the woods.

Farish blames Danny for Gum’s injury because he was supposed to be driving. The doctor examines Gum and concludes the bite was from a type of snake that doesn’t normally reside in Mississippi. He does not have the proper medicine for this snake bite in stock, so they have to wait and see if Gum survives.

Not wanting to stay in town for Ida’s last days working for her family and fearful that the police will catch her for attempted murder, Harriet convinces Edie to take her to church camp after all. Even though it has already started, Dr. and Mrs. Vance, who run the camp, agree to let Harriet join. Charlotte has no qualms with this. Allison is suspicious and assumes Harriet did something wrong because otherwise, she would never ask to go to church camp. On the phone, Harriet and Hely decide it would be smart to keep quiet about their crime because if the Ratliffs find out, they’ll kill them. Harriet feels an overwhelming sense of loss and loneliness with Ida leaving and her childhood dwindling.