Flyin' West

At the train station, Sophie, Fannie, and Wil wait for Minnie and Frank to arrive. Fannie is impatient and exits to look for the station manager. Sophie invites Wil to dinner, commenting that Fannie would appreciate his presence, and Wil agrees. Fannie rushes back in.

Minnie enters, dressed in fur. Sophie asks what she’s hiding under her hat, but Minnie insists that it’s the fashion. Frank is off sending a telegram after a conversation he had with a white man on the train. Fannie introduces Minnie to Wil. He exits, and Minnie immediately asks if Wil is Fannie’s sweetheart. Frank, who is 36, enters, dressed as lavishly as Minnie. Fannie greets him warmly and is thrilled when Frank gives her an autographed book of poetry, the latest by Paul Dunbar Nelson. Sophie welcomes Frank more formally.

Minnie exclaims, “This isn’t like coming for a visit. This is coming home” (26). With coldness, Frank reminds Minnie that they already have a home in London and that they are, in fact, only visiting. Suddenly meek, Minnie agrees. Abruptly, Frank affects a fake cheeriness. Eagerly, Fannie pulls Minnie away as Minnie looks at Frank nervously. Frank stares at her as they exit. He notices that Sophie is watching him and gives a small polite bow before following. Sophie shifts her shotgun and exits after them.

Fannie is setting the table for dinner. In the bedroom, Minnie stares at the bruises on her face, hoping that they aren’t obvious. Frank stands behind her, and she winces as he touches her face, calming when he starts to kiss her. Their kissing becomes more passionate, and Minnie teasingly pulls away. Looking in the mirror again, Minnie puts her hat back on and exits. Frank lies down on the bed and reads a book. In the kitchen, Miss Leah asks pointedly why Frank needed Minnie to help him unpack immediately. Minnie enters, and Miss Leah tells her to remove the hat so she can see her properly. Reluctantly, Minnie does so, and Fannie gasps at the sight of her bruises. Minnie claims that she tripped on the train, but Fannie and Miss Leah regard her doubtfully. Sophie enters carrying firewood and immediately asks about Minnie’s face. Minnie repeats her story, and Fannie supports her. Minnie tells everyone to stop discussing it, and Sophie replies, “Suit yourself” (28).

Miss Leah asks Minnie about living in London and is shocked to learn that it’s unsegregated and that the couple even has white friends. Minnie explains that Frank sees himself as being just as white as he is Black and claims that his father loved his mother. Sophie exclaims that Frank’s father was a slave owner, and Miss Leah asks, “Did he free her?” When Minnie says no, Miss Leah replies, “Then don’t talk to me about love” (29). Fannie changes the subject and sends Minnie to get Frank for dinner. Wil arrives with flowers for Fannie. They all sit to eat, and Frank surprises Sophie by noting that Minnie mentioned that she’s also half-white. Frank identifies himself as a city person, but compliments Fannie on her table setting, which is more refined than he expected. When they moved out west, Fannie demanded that they find room for their mother’s best china.

Minnie comments that she wants to visit Memphis, but Sophie isn’t interested because Black lives aren’t considered to be worth much there. Fannie interjects that she’s heard the situation has improved, but Frank adds that when they stopped in New Orleans to speak to his lawyers on their way to Kansas, they learned of a recent lynching. Frank starts to say that the lynching victim deserved it, but Sophie interrupts, stating firmly that regardless of his crimes, “he didn’t deserve to die like that” (32). Agreeably, Frank apologizes for bringing the subject up. Sophie exclaims that the only reason African Americans stay in racist cities is out of a fear of change. When they left Memphis, others warned them that they didn’t know what life would be like on the frontier, but Sophie responded, “Any place is better than here!” (32) Frank agrees with Sophie, and Wil chimes in that he too hopes to “never set foot in the Confederacy again” (32). Dismayed, Fannie tells the two men that they’re starting to sound like Sophie. Minnie jokes that Sophie is easier to take with earplugs, and Frank comments that he ought to have tried that on the train when Minnie wouldn’t stop telling stories about her sisters. Minnie is stung, but Sophie interjects and asks Frank which story was his favorite. Frank responds, “Oh, I think probably the one about you coming to the door asking to do the laundry and then moving right in. I guess you knew a good thing when you saw one!” (32) Minnie and Fannie quickly protest that they were children whose parents had just died—and that when they invited Sophie in, it was as if she’d always been part of their family.

Wil asks if Fannie plans to put that story in her book, which piques Minnie’s interest. Fannie explains that she’s writing about the town’s history, adding for Miss Leah, “Well, some people don’t think their stories are important enough to be in a book” (33). Miss Leah isn’t moved, arguing that it hadn’t been long enough since slavery ended for people to have forgotten what it was like and need her stories. Fannie insists that Miss Leah also has stories about sneaking away from work and playing—and about her children. Miss Leah, however, replies that sneaking away always earned beatings and that her children and grandchildren are all gone. Frank urges Minnie to tell the story of how they met. Minnie was at school and Frank spotted her walking. He heard her singing and invited her to dinner. She turned him down because he was a stranger, but the next day she attended a poetry reading, and Frank was presenting.

Frank quotes a few lines of the poem he’d read, which is by Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Miss Leah responds, “A Negro wrote that?” (35) Frank and Minnie married in New Orleans a few weeks after meeting. Fannie exclaims her approval and pushes Sophie to tell a story. Dryly, Sophie replies that she wouldn’t want Frank to be bored since Minnie has told all her stories. However, Minnie begs her to tell the story of the ritual on the day they left Memphis. Sophie knew that Memphis was racially volatile, and when “that Pap Singleton” (36) showed up at their church to convince people to move out west, she was thrilled at the idea of all-Black towns. Frank comments that they rarely see Black people in London, and Miss Leah wonders if they don’t miss seeing people who look like them. Frank replies, “To tell you the truth, I’ve seen about all the Negroes I need to see in this life” (36).

Minnie changes the subject and pleads with Sophie to tell the story of the ritual, but Sophie says, “Another time” (36). Miss Leah announces that she’s tired and says good night, refusing Minnie’s offer to help her to bed. Wil helps Fannie and Minnie clean, and Frank comments that Wil is doing “women’s work” (36). Sophie goes out to get the rest of the firewood, and Fannie and Minnie join her. Minnie apologizes for Frank, but Sophie says that if Frank treats her well, he’s fine. Minnie says that he does.

Fannie insists that they do the ritual. They hold hands. Sophie leads and her sisters repeat as they declare:

Because we are free Negro women… Born of free Negro women… Back as far as time begins… We choose this day to leave a place where our lives, our honor and our very souls are not our own. We choose this day to declare our lives to be our own and no one else’s. And we promise to always remember the day we left Memphis and went west together to be free women as a sacred bond between us with all our trust… And all our strength… And all our courage… And all our love (38).

As the three sisters hug each other and laugh, Frank watches them through the window.

The next morning, Minnie leaves Frank sleeping in bed and finds Miss Leah alone sewing. Minnie seems younger without the fancy clothing, and Miss Leah comments that she looks more like herself. As Miss Leah braids Minnie’s hair, Minnie gushes about Frank’s handsomeness and says that she wants her children to look like him. She wonders if she’ll make a good mother, and Miss Leah tells her that she has to because Fannie and Wil won’t have time for many children when they finally get together, Sophie is “too mean for anybody to marry,” and “none of this makes any sense without the children” (39). Minnie imagines that childbearing would be difficult on the frontier, but Miss Leah talks about being forced to get pregnant at 13 by a man named James, who was forced to impregnate her—and other women—while the overseer watched.

Miss Leah’s 10 children with James were all taken and sold. She stayed with James after emancipation because they didn’t have anyone else, and James suggested that since they lost 10 babies while enslaved, they ought to have 10 free children. Minnie asks why Miss Leah won’t allow Fannie to write her stories, and she replies, “Everything can’t be wrote down. No matter what Fannie tell you, some things gotta be said out loud to keep the life in ’em” (41). Minnie wishes that Frank would like Nicodemus because she’s homesick, but his disdain goes beyond a preference for cities. He despises the entire country. When he visited Europe as a teen, he pleaded with his father to let him stay. Miss Leah asks Minnie if she misses seeing Black people, and she exclaims that she misses them terribly but that Frank has never felt connected to other African Americans.

Frank enters and, with false charm, comments on Minnie’s braids, which she hasn’t worn since she married Frank. Once Miss Leah exits, Frank orders her to unbraid her hair, saying accusingly, “You look like a damn picaninny!” (43) Cringing, Minnie apologizes. Frank retorts, “If you weren’t so busy being sorry, you’d know there are some interesting things going on in Nicodemus these days” (43). Minnie questions him, but Frank refuses to answer and says that he’s going to the telegraph office and around town. She begs him to come back soon, and he exits. Minnie curls up and rocks herself.

Later that night, Minnie stares out the window. Fannie is sewing, and Sophie is organizing maps and plans for developing the town. Sleepily, Fannie says good night, reassuring Minnie that Nicodemus has little trouble for Frank to find. Minnie tells Sophie that she doesn’t need to stay up with her while she waits for Frank, but Sophie explains that she’ll probably be sleepless for the next week as she anxiously awaits the vote. Minnie doesn’t understand why Sophie's so invested, so Sophie shows her the plans that Fannie drew for the town layout, including the school. Fannie incorporated drawings of Sophie, Minnie, Wil, Miss Leah, and herself, and Minnie points out that she didn’t include Frank. Minnie wishes she could stay in town but finds that it’s complicated to be sure what she wants.

Sophie disagrees. She describes exactly what she wants: a town where Black people can “really be free instead of spending our lives working for the same people that used to own us” (45). The measure she’s backing will require that people who want to sell their property face the town and explain why and to whom they’re selling, which won’t prohibit a sale but will discourage people from selling to white speculators. Minnie suggests that Sophie show the plans to Frank, but Sophie scoffs at this. Minnie asks why Sophie dislikes Frank, and she replies that she doesn’t trust Black people who hate being Black. Sophie picks up her gun and exits to check on the horses.

Frank enters, drunk and angry. He has lost all his money in a poker game with white men he met on the train. Frank claims that his bad luck started when one of the men asked about the Black woman who he was traveling with, spitting, “You’re too black to bring me any good luck. All you got to give me is misery” (47). However, Frank also learned at the poker game that white speculators would pay a lot of money for the sisters’ land in what Frank tells her they call “N*****demus” (47). Of course, Minnie points out that Sophie would never sell. Minnie prods him as to whether he was trying to pass as white and what he told the men about her. Furious, Frank shoves her to the ground. The noise draws Fannie and Sophie. Frank tells them to stay out of his business, but when he starts toward Minnie again, Sophie points her shotgun at him. She cocks the hammer, but Minnie cries for her to stop because she’s pregnant.