The Girls in the Stilt House

That fall, Ada struggles with breastfeeding, but Matilda knows how to help her. Ada asks how Matilda knows so much, and Matilda explains that she learns things—like how to skin a rabbit—by doing them. No one taught her. Matilda makes a beautiful crib for Annis from some supplies she finds around the house. Ada feels like they are beginning to get closer, and she is relieved.

Matilda uses Virgil’s old shed, clearing it of his things. She’s tired of keeping others’ secrets, so she writes down what happened to Buddy Jones in the street, feeling cleansed by the process. She signs it “Mary Potts” and decides to send it to Rainy.

Matilda tells Ada that Ada must go to town for supplies and she must take Annis since she’s breastfeeding. Ada is nervous, but she has realized that Matilda is actually “hiding out” and not simply laying low after Virgil’s death. Matilda gives her a package for Rainy, her pages hidden inside with some peppermint candy. When Ada gets to town, she meets Flora Rankin, the owner of the dry goods store; Flora is very friendly and good with Annis, and she and Ada discuss Ada’s sewing skills. Flora gives Ada a bit of fabric and asks her to make a baby dress of it.

Ada gets to work on the baby dress, recalling how much happiness sewing brought her and Sylvie. They sewed while Virgil was away so he wouldn’t see how happy it made them. When he criticized Sylvie for teaching Ada, she claimed Ada could help her to make new shirts for him. He brought home an old sewing machine and some fabric. Sylvie had to repay his “sacrifice” with sex. One day, Virgil came home and found Sylvie and Ada having fun—no dinner prepared—and he destroyed the sewing machine. Two weeks later, Ada goes to town again and shows the dress to Flora. Flora is amazed by Ada’s skill, and she makes Ada a proposition.

Ada comes home with a big bag of fabric and an old sewing machine. Flora said she’d give Ada 50 cents for each item she makes. Ada also brought home two letters for Matilda. Rainy says she “shared” a piece of candy with her great-uncle, who “loved it” (271), and he wants more like it. Matilda feels like someone finally sees her.

Sewing makes Ada happy and gives her hope. Within the first week, she makes six dresses, a nightgown, and two bonnets. Gertie compliments her work, and Ada begins to think of her as a grandmother, while Matilda is like a sister. Ada wonders how she’d ever survive without Matilda. Next time Ada goes to town, Matilda reminds her to check the post office. Matilda claims to be writing to an old friend of Gertie’s, but Ada knows this is not the truth.

Ada returns with a rough-looking package addressed to Matilda and $4.50 in earnings for the items she made. Matilda feels a little resentful that Ada could earn so much money while she was sitting down. She is thrilled to learn that Rainy’s great-uncle loves “her work” and wants her to send him more stories like Buddy’s. Moreover, if Matilda ever goes to Cleveland, Henry Moser says he’ll hire her for his newspaper. She goes to dig up her buried notebook, feeling changed by this news, as though Moser has given her a new identity. That night, she writes the story of Buddy’s murder, repackaging the box Rainy sent her with the pages hidden inside.

Matilda begins milking a neighbor’s cow every morning in exchange for some milk for Ada; Gertie says Ada should be drinking it while breastfeeding. Ada feels new confidence due to her work, and she dreams of getting out of the swamp. Matilda also has a new sense of purpose, and things are easier between them. One day, the girls see a double rainbow, and Ada hopes it is a sign of their future. When she drives to town, carrying Matilda’s package, she opens it to find caramel patties and feels better that it’s nothing to threaten the life they are building.

That winter, Ada tries to get Matilda to open up, but Matilda refuses to share her past with Ada. Ada is uncertain of Matilda’s feelings and motives, which makes her desperate. Matilda grows more distant, and Ada’s worries increase. One day, Matilda makes pancakes for breakfast, Ada’s favorite. Ada gets dressed, uses the outhouse, and draws some water, but when she goes back inside, Annis is in her crib, and Matilda is gone.

Ada sits outside, noting the quiet in the starlings’ absence. They mysteriously disappeared a month ago. Matilda took her things, so Ada knows she’s not coming back. Matilda left the wagon and mule, the chickens, and most of their money. Ada feels as helpless as she was before Matilda’s appearance. On the fourth morning, she finds a jar of milk on the porch. Four days later, another jar appears. She spots Gertie and calls out, but Gertie won’t respond. Ada grieves for days but eventually goes in search of Gertie’s cabin. Gertie won’t tell her where Matilda is. She says that life isn’t the same for Ada and Matilda and that Ada doesn’t know what Matilda has been through.

In the hopes of finding a friend, Ada goes in search of Peggy, but she finds Frank at the house instead. He introduces himself and asks if she lives alone in the swamp. He boldly assesses her body before telling her Peggy went back to Baltimore. He says he kept some of Creedle’s business arrangements going after he died. Frank says he needs a housekeeper and that there’s a private room behind the kitchen where she and Annis could live. Ada declines his offer, hoping to keep sewing for Flora.

That night, a storm comes, settling over the swamp for days and creating darkness during the daytime. A cypress is struck by lightning and crashes to the ground. The next time she goes to Flora’s, she learns her friend had a stroke and is not expected to return. Her sister’s husband, who is not a nice man, now runs the shop. He offers to pay Ada only half what Flora did for this batch of items, so Ada only brings in a couple of pieces, determined to find buyers for the others herself. When she gets back home, she sees that one of the stilts under her house has broken, and the house has partially fallen into the mud. A neighbor tells her there’s no way to stop it from collapsing. With nowhere to go, she takes Frank’s job offer.

Matilda now lives with her friend Leeta in Jackson. She was there the day Ada came to Gertie’s, and she felt guilty, but when she felt herself growing fond of Ada and Annis, she knew she had to leave. Matilda has a job at the movie theater. One day, Leeta asks for her help, leading Matilda to the funeral parlor, where her boyfriend, Alvert, is dirty and delusional. Mr. Lewis, the undertaker, cares for him; Alvert is dehydrated from being hogtied and buried alive by a group of white men. Matilda writes down the entire story and sends it to Cleveland.