The Little Friend

Edie drives Harriet to church camp in her old car, which she refuses to replace despite Roy Dial’s constant efforts to sell her new models. Edie laments how people in Mississippi used to be truly hospitable, but now they’re not. Meanwhile, Harriet panics about the possibility of her and Hely getting caught for the snake-throwing incident. As soon as Harriet sees the camp, she begs Edie to take her home, but Edie refuses. The Vances enthusiastically greet Harriet.

Farish tries to figure out who could have done this to Gum. He and Danny assume the snake that bit her was one of Loyal’s, but Loyal and Eugene probably weren’t behind the attack. Danny thinks the girl who alerted them about the vandalized truck at the Mission is suspicious.

Allison cries while Ida finishes housework. She takes money that she received for Christmas and goes to the grocery store to buy various items for Ida. She goes home to wrap the presents, but her mother asks her to watch TV with her. Allison dislikes being alone with Charlotte because she can tell her presence only reminds Charlotte of Robin’s absence. This makes Harriet’s absence and Ida’s impending departure even more difficult for Allison.

With Gum still in the hospital, Farish and Danny increase their drug usage and decrease their sleep. They still suspect Harriet is involved in the attack on their grandmother and the truck vandalism. However, Farish is also suspicious of Danny, which infuriates Danny because he does a lot of work for Farish and is not paid fairly. He constantly has to walk on eggshells so as not to upset Farish, and he does that now as well, concealing his anger at being accused of disloyalty. Danny wants out of the drug business, but he doesn’t tell Farish this. Farish orders him to drop everything and focus on locating Harriet.

Edie is driving herself and the aunts to South Carolina to tour old homes with their church group. She’s in a foul mood because each of her sisters has already slowed down their trip due to forgetting something at home or taking forever to leave their house. They still haven’t made it out of town, but at least they’re on the road and hopefully won’t have to go back again. The women recall past car trips they’ve taken together, all of which were miserable. Adelaide says she has to go back again because she forgot her Sanka, a decaffeinated instant coffee. Edie says Adelaide can just buy some Sanka when they get to South Carolina, but the others bicker that they might not sell it there. Frustrated, Edie pulls into a bank’s parking lot to turn around, but when she pulls back onto the highway, they’re on the wrong side, facing oncoming traffic, and the car crashes.

After 10 days of church camp, Harriet still hates it and wants to leave. She especially hates the talk sessions about puberty and romance and feels like because of her gender, the possibilities of what she can be are reduced. She resents becoming a woman and resents others who try to put her in a womanly box. This feels like another loss, similar to losing Ida, her brother, and her close friendship with Hely. Hely sends a letter and a newspaper clipping with a headline indicating that a woman was attacked by a reptile. Other kids try to snatch the letter and newspaper, so Harriet quickly shreds both into unreadable pieces—however, she did not get a chance to read them first. She’s about to get in a fistfight with the kids who tried to snatch her mail, but a ventriloquist show starts, which interrupts them.

The Vances ask to see Harriet in their office, and she assumes she’s in trouble for either almost fighting with the kids or for the snake-throwing incident. Edie’s there in a new car and does not seem mad at Harriet. However, the Vances start praying for Harriet’s family to get through these hard times, so Harriet knows something is wrong. When they’re alone in the car, Edie reveals that Libby died.

Right after the car crash, all four women seemed only mildly injured. The police sent the aunts home but wanted Edie to go to the hospital to get her cracked ribs bandaged up. However, Edie refuses this because she is a former nurse and can do it herself for cheaper. Her car was damaged in the wreck and won’t start, so they take a taxi to their houses. Edie wraps her ribs, washes up, and rests. Later, Allison calls her because she’s at Libby’s house, and Libby is acting strange. Edie tells Allison to go home, but Allison insists Libby isn’t making sense when she talks. Edie says she’ll come over after she deals with Roy Dial, who’s at her door.

In all Mr. Dial’s previous attempts to sell Edie new cars, she always strung him along and then refused, just to annoy him. Now, he shows up with a new car to loan her since hers is broken. He wants her to buy it. The police said the accident was Edie’s fault since she turned into oncoming traffic. People questioned her eyesight and asked if she should be driving. Mr. Dial argues that the intersection where she crashed is dangerous and should have been designed better. Edie claims she is going to drive even if she kills everyone in the state, and she appreciates Mr. Dial’s support, viewing him as a new ally. Edie blames Adelaide for the accident.

Libby had a stroke. She went to the hospital for five days, but nobody called Harriet. At her wake and funeral, the embalming fluid causes strong odors and Harriet gets lightheaded. Adelaide and Mr. Sumner, a man she knows from childhood, take Harriet outside, where they leave her in the funeral home’s limo with Catfish, who drives it. Harriet spots Danny’s car driving by—she and Danny lock eyes, but he keeps driving. Harriet panics because he might come back, so she goes back into the funeral home. Adelaide is smoking with Mr. Sumner even though she quit long ago. Harriet worries Adelaide will marry him.

Danny drives past the funeral home and indeed spots Harriet in the limo with Catfish. He pulls into a different parking lot to think. Catfish is a friend of Danny and Farish’s, but they don’t trust Catfish because they suspect he might try to steal their stash of methamphetamine that they had planned to hide in Loyal’s truck but never did. Now, Danny considers that Catfish might be working with this child in some sort of scheme against the Ratliffs. Catfish actually offered them a different person to sell the drugs to in Louisiana, but Farish said no and is now just holding onto the drugs. Danny usually drives Farish places, and recently, Farish asked Danny to drop him off in town, then go home and wait for him to call to get picked up. Instead, Danny followed Farish and saw him hide the drugs in a water tower near the train tracks and overpass. Danny thinks Farish hid the drugs there because Danny can’t swim and is afraid of water. Danny views the stash of drugs as a way he could escape his family and crime; by stealing and selling it, he could create a new life for himself in Louisiana.

After Libby’s funeral, Edie hosts a reception at her house. She’s drinking alcohol even though she usually doesn’t, and she has channeled a lot of energy into hosting the perfect party to avoid processing her emotions about Libby’s death. Hely finds Harriet, and she wants to go find Danny because she saw him driving earlier. Hely isn’t interested. Odean shows up and is upset that nobody told her Libby died—she was supposed to be going on a week-long trip with Edie, Tat, and Adelaide, during which time Odean wouldn’t be going to work at Libby’s house. Now the week’s over, and Odean learns that Libby died. Libby also told Odean she was leaving an envelope for her, and Odean is worried she won’t get it.