The Little Friend

Charlotte never cooks. Ida sometimes makes dinner before leaving for the night, but not always. The lack of proper meals leaves Harriet irritable, but Charlotte and Allison don’t seem to require the same level of nutrition as Harriet (although they require more rest). Harriet does not complain to her mother about the lack of food because she knows if she does, Ida might get fired. Whereas Hely purposely fights with a rotating cast of housekeepers, getting one after the next fired by making up lies, Harriet and Allison deeply love Ida and fear losing her.

Harriet reads The Jungle Book and is reminded of poisonous snakes; she calls Hely and proposes catching one. Hely pretends to know about different types of poisonous snakes like copperheads and cottonmouths, plus how to catch them. However, he suggests Harriet could simply tell the police instead of trying to poison Danny with a snake. She does not use the excuse about the cops ignoring the Ratliffs but instead says she should be the one who gets to punish Danny.

Harriet and Hely venture out to hunt snakes, which often make nests under houses. However, they fail to catch any and go swimming. Later, Harriet is walking and spots Curtis, who bizarrely says, “[S]nakes bite,” to Harriet (180). She leaves Curtis without realizing that he was referring to his older brother Eugene’s (the itinerant preacher’s) apartment, where another preacher from Kentucky, Loyal Reece, has come to stay. Loyal has brought poisonous snakes, which he uses for theatrics during his sermons. Curtis has evidently been warned not to touch the snakes.

Loyal doesn’t know Eugene but is the brother of Dolphus Reece, a man with whom Farish was in prison. Dolphus and Farish plan to hide a stash of methamphetamine in Loyal’s truck before he drives back to Kentucky, unaware that he’s aiding in a drug trafficking operation. Farish invited Loyal to visit under the guise that he could advise Eugene on his budding preaching career. Both Eugene and Loyal are apparently trying to escape their families’ criminal tendencies through religion. Eugene rents his apartment from Roy Dial, and downstairs, there are some unnamed Mormon missionaries. Mr. Dial stops by often and is always fussing. Eugene worries Mr. Dial will discover the snakes, which smell.

Harriet doesn’t know what Danny Ratliff looks like, so she digs through Robin’s school yearbook to find his old picture, which she cuts out and puts in her notebook. Harriet doesn’t hear from Hely for longer than usual.

Danny hasn’t been sleeping much because he and Farish have been doing a lot of methamphetamine—Farish started cooking it in their grandmother Gum’s shed, which he also uses as a taxidermy studio for his legitimate business. He used to focus on other types of crime such as house and car theft, but now, he has switched to drugs. Both Farish and Danny are becoming paranoid, incoherent, and unpredictable. Their parents are both deceased, and their younger brother, Curtis, was born much later than the other children. Now, Danny reflects that nobody is taking care of Curtis the way a parent should. Eugene used to help Farish with crime, but then he had a religious conversion, which annoyed everyone because he now judges the rest of them and subjects them to lectures. However, he also uses their resources without contributing financially.

Harriet continues stretching how long she can hold her breath; Pem times her at the pool. Hely goes to the pool hall even though his mother forbids it because they have the best selection of comic books in town. Carl Odum (Lasharon’s father) challenges Catfish de Bienville to a pool game for money, though gambling is illegal. Catfish talks to someone named Danny, whom Hely assumes is Ratliff. Hely is more afraid of Danny’s brother, Farish, who is the family’s leader and was once involved in most types of profitable crime. He’s been in prison before but also, after attempting suicide, spent time in a mental health facility. Hely has noticed that since his stay there, Farish has stopped committing petty theft and also stopped his public, racist hate speech. Although these are improvements, Hely still thinks he’s scary and unpredictable.

Lasharon enters the pool hall with her baby sibling and repeatedly asks her father to leave with her, but he keeps telling her to go and continues gambling. Odum tells Danny, Farish, and Catfish that Lasharon works like an adult because when Odum was a kid, he couldn’t attend school and had to work, so she doesn’t deserve any better. The men notice Hely talking to Lasharon and watching them, and they ask his name. They get distracted again, and Hely moves toward the exit, drops the money for the comic book, and runs away.

Harriet’s father, Dix, has a girlfriend in Nashville, but Harriet’s family doesn’t know this, although everyone else in town does—even Hely. Hely calls Harriet and tells her the Ratliffs are at the pool hall; she hangs up and presumably heads there. Danny exits the pool hall and sees a girl, whom he assumes is another one of Odum’s kids, outside. Although she’s reading a book, he gets a creepy feeling from her.

Harriet’s grandmother and other great-aunts are working in the cemetery garden, so Harriet and Hely visit Harriet’s great-aunt Tat, who is annoyed to see them. Harriet asks Tat if she can spend the night, but Tat declines and also criticizes her for being dirty. She blames Ida for this and threatens to talk to Edie about it.

Eugene and Loyal visit Gum, who has had a number of cancers and other illnesses, all of which she has miraculously survived. She is often tired and pessimistic; she has had a difficult life filled with work, having married at 13 and borne children shortly thereafter. Eugene reflects that so far, in Loyal’s revivals that he’s attended where he uses the poisonous snakes, people just make fun of him. Loyal will try again the following evening in town, but Eugene worries about whether the snake shenanigans are even legal.

Harriet returns home, and her mother is furious, claiming she was worried sick because she didn’t know where Harriet was. It’s only 7 o’clock at night, and Charlotte normally doesn’t worry, so this is surprising to Harriet. Charlotte hits Harriet, then realizes it’s 7 o’clock at night, not 7 o’clock in the morning. Allison leads Charlotte inside, then tells Harriet their mother is acting strange because it’s Robin’s birthday. Charlotte then needs confirmation that Harriet knows she is loved, but Harriet is not convincing.