Mama Day

It is now springtime in Willow Springs, and the town is abuzz with news of not only Cocoa and George’s wedding but Ruby and Junior Lee’s as well. The narrator also ambiguously describes subtle changes in Bernice that suggest she may be preparing for childbirth, but she “goes unnoticed as she quietly moves about the business of preparing for her miracle” (227). Meanwhile, Miranda and Abigail diligently sew a quilt to gift to Cocoa and George for their marriage.

Beginning on page 234, the narrator jumps backward in time to describe Bernice and Miranda’s encounter at the other place. Though the description is as shadowy as the setting itself, the other place appears to be a house where Miranda conducts a ritual to help Bernice conceive. When Bernice arrives, Miranda is massaging a newly-hatched chick. There are “pine chips smoking on the fire blazing in the parlor hearth…the dining table is covered in a white sheet and has padded boards nailed upright on one end” (235). Bernice lays down on the table; “Pulsing and alive—wet—the egg moves from one space to the other” (236), and the ritual is complete. The early part of this section suggests that the ritual might have worked, though Naylor has not yet given readers concrete proof of Bernice’s pregnancy.