Morrison held up the back of the wagon and Papa attached the wheel. Rather than unload everything, Stacey held the horse still while Mr. In the boys' room, at first Stacey will not say what happened but finally tells the other children that on the way back from Vicksburg, the back wheels fell off the wagon, probably a trick played by some boys he saw standing near it in town. Mama sends the unwilling children to bed while she prepares to set Papa's broken leg. Morrison carries Papa into the house, his leg splinted with a shotgun and a rag tied around his bleeding head. Mama is so worried that she considers going out on the horse to look for them, but the wagon arrives.

On Thursday, when they are supposed to get back, it begins to rain. Morrison leave on Wednesday before dawn to do the shopping. Seven families have decided to keep shopping in Vicksburg, so Papa, Stacey, and Mr. Papa wants to bring Stacey to Vicksburg with him so that he'll know how to handle himself, unlike TJ whose parents can no longer whip him. That night, Cassie sneaks out of bed to eavesdrop on Mama and Papa talking on the porch. It is smaller than the other trees but keeps on doing what it has to do and does not give up. When Cassie worries that they are giving up, Papa compares them to a little fig tree on their property. Stacey is angry after he leaves but Papa says that he does not understand the risks that Mr. The Wallaces have threatened to get the sheriff to put those who owe debts on the chain gang. Montier have asked their tenant farmers for sixty rather than fifty percent of their cotton and has threatened to kick those who shop in Vicksburg off their land. Avery arrives and says that he cannot buy things in Vicksburg anymore because Mr. They have planted extra cotton to make up for the fact that Mama was fired. When Cassie begs him to stay he tells her he has to go in order to pay the taxes and mortgage.

Papa has still not left for the railroad when school ends. At supper, Papa tells Mama that Thurston Wallace has been talking about stopping the shopping in Vicksburg but that it is not time to be scared yet. Jamison comes over and talks to Papa, who is working in the fields. Jeremy also says that TJ has been hanging around with his brothers RW and Melvin, who are eighteen and nineteen, and who make fun of TJ behind his back.Ĭassie asks her mother why TJ would hang around with the Simms boys, and Mama tells her that they hang around with him to make themselves feel good and to use him. Jeremy tells Stacey that he will miss walking with him and offers to visit his house but Stacey says that his father would not like it. Spring comes, and classes are about to end at Great Faith at the end of March.

Mildred roll of thunder