The Mighty Miss Malone

Deza and Mother are excited and shocked to see the pretty house at the address back home in Gary that Father rented. It is “a beautiful little house with a porch and a green door” (282), and Deza thinks each room is perfect. They have no furniture yet, but she knows they will purchase and sleep in real beds soon. Deza is sad to discover that both Mrs. Needham and Clarice no longer live in their houses. She thinks of visiting Dr. Bracy but opts to wait. Mrs. Ashton, the public librarian, allows Deza to check out four books although Deza needs a new library card.

When she gets home, Mother greets her from inside a waiting cab, calling Deza to get in. Mother reveals shocking news: A man in a poorhouse in Lansing, Michigan might be Father. Mother tells Deza all the letters could not have been from Father; none ever asked about Jimmie, and the tone and language simply were not representative of Father’s personality. Mother tells Deza the letters were a lot like the fake note Deza wrote as Mrs. Carsdale; Deza is surprised that Mother knew about her forgery. Mother says she spent time all year writing to poorhouses, hospitals, and morgues trying to find Father.

The Lansing poorhouse reeks of waste, toilets, and cleaning products. The man in charge, Mr. Jackson, replied to Mother’s inquiry about a man they called Jonah Blackbeard. Now that Mother is there, however, Mr. Jackson does not think Jonah could be her husband. He says the man they call Jonah doesn’t talk much and arrived very confused and disoriented a month after the Joe Louis fight: “We call him Jonah because the first thing he started talking about was getting swallowed up in the belly of a fire-breathing dragon. We call him Blackbeard ‘cause he claims he fought off a ship on the ocean” (288). Mother insists on seeing the man. She recognizes Father right away despite his appearance: He is unshaven, unkempt, skinny, and wearing filthy clothes and a stained sheet. Deza is shocked but knows it is Father.

Father recognizes Mother right away, and they clasp hands. Mother asks why he didn’t write; Father says he did, but the letters were returned. He asks about Deza and Jimmie, then sees Deza. They embrace, and though Father is crying, he says, “The Mighty Miss Malone” (291). Mother reprimands Mr. Jackson for the condition Father is in, but Mr. Jackson says they hardly have money to feed the men who live there. He offers some of his personal toiletry items to help Father clean up and shave. While Mother helps him, Deza holds the cab. While alone, she realizes the letter-writer, money-sender, and house-renter must be Jimmie. She cries to realize it, knowing she has “the best brother in the world” (294).

Mr. Jackson apologizes for not remembering that Father addressed his letters to the Malones; he says so many go through the poorhouse he did not recognize the name when Mother wrote. The letters came back because, in his confused state, Father mistakenly used an address from the first apartment he and Mother shared in Flint. The three start the taxicab trip back to Gary. Deza reads a set of Burma-Shave signs on the highway. Then Father claims that he sees signs too, though none are there; Mother and Deza worry, but Father is just fooling. He quotes a poem about the hope and devotion inherent to family instead. In a moment that offers Deza great hope that Father’s joyous and comical side is still alive, he finishes the poem, waits a beat, then yells “Burma-Shave!” (297). The three laugh together in renewed hope and unity. Deza is certain that with all the blessings on the Malones, they are “back on the road to Wonderful!” (297).