Flyin' West

In their bedroom, Minnie and Frank prepare to go. Fannie and Miss Leah are about to leave for church, where Sophie will give her speech preceding the vote. Sophie hasn’t been home much for the past week. Fannie assumes this is because she’s been campaigning, but Miss Leah knows it’s because she’s avoiding Frank. Fannie begs Sophie, who hasn’t spoken to the couple all week, to forgive Frank and keep the peace before he and Minnie go back to London. However, Sophie is obstinate and still angry. Fannie reminds her that it’s Minnie’s birthday, and all three of them must give Minnie her gift together: the deed to the farm with her name. Minnie enters. They wish her a happy birthday and hand her an envelope. Miss Leah says, “Every colored woman ought to have a piece of land she can claim as her own” (53). Frank interjects that the land is worth a lot of money and could make them all rich women. Sophie asserts that the land is their home and belongs to them, vaguely threatening, “anybody who tries to say different is going to find himself buried on it” (54). The argument builds, and Minnie erupts, “Can’t you see that none of that matters? This is the land that makes us free women, Frank. We can never sell it! Not ever!” (54)

Wil enters to accompany the family to church, bringing a telegram for Frank. Frank reads it, his face darkening, and leaves it on the table, exiting and slamming the bedroom door. Minnie urges Fannie to read it, and she does. It is a notice that Frank has been denied his claims to paternity as well as his father’s estate with no legal recourse. Minnie decides to stay behind as the others leave for church. In the bedroom, Frank is drinking and furious. Minnie tries to comfort him, but Frank calls her stupid, raging that his father’s family is trying to turn him into an ordinary Black man. Frank and Minnie now have no money to travel back to London and are trapped in Nicodemus. Full of hope, Minnie reminds him that they’re free to stay in Nicodemus, which Sophie plans to turn into “a paradise for colored people” (55). Frank’s mood changes as he remembers the deed, promising Minnie that they can make enough from her third of the land to get them back to living a great life in London. However, Minnie says no to selling, and he becomes outraged again. She tries to protect the baby, but Frank swears that if he wants to, he’ll kill her and everyone else in the house. He adds that he told the white men he’d gambled with that Minnie “was a black whore I won in a card game” (57) and kisses her forcefully.

Fannie and Miss Leah approach the front door, discussing Sophie’s speech. When they open the door, they’re startled by Frank, who is standing there on his way out. Frank tells them that he has a business errand and that Minnie is resting. After he exits, Fannie comments that he seems legitimately remorseful. Miss Leah replies, “A man that will hit a woman once will hit her again” (58). In the yard, Frank and Sophie meet each other coldly, and Sophie suggests that he continue wherever he is headed.

Smugly, Frank announces that Minnie has added his name to the deed and that they’re selling her share to the white men from the train. He sarcastically adds that he hopes this sale won’t affect the outcome of the vote. Frank asserts that he could take over the town if he chose to stay, adding, “You ever see a group of colored people who didn’t put the lightest one in charge?” (59) As Frank laughs and exits, Minnie emerges from the bedroom, savagely beaten and injured. Horrified, Miss Leah and Fannie call for Sophie, who runs into the house.

On the porch, Fannie sits with Wil, who holds a shotgun. Wil doesn’t understand how a Black man can hurt a Black woman after everything they’ve endured together as a race. Wil wonders if Frank can legally sell the land, and Fannie says that Minnie’s signature means that he can. Wil notes that Frank’s disregard of Black people is strange, but according to Miss Leah, “mulattos got a war in them. And some times it makes ’em stronger but some times it just makes ’em crazy. Makes ’em think they got a choice about if they gonna be colored or not” (60). Wil tells Fannie that he wants to protect them no matter what’s required. Fannie doesn’t want to ask him to hurt anyone, but Wil insists that for Fannie, he’d kill someone. He implies that he had to kill someone before but that they were white.

In the back, Miss Leah holds Minnie’s hand and tells her about the despair she felt when her first baby was sold. James, the father, never even saw one of his children before they were taken away, although Miss Leah tried unsuccessfully over and over to give him the chance. After slavery ended, they had five children, and he loved them deeply. When all five died of an illness, James was insane with grief until he died. Miss Leah buried her family and began walking toward the west. She needed “someplace big enough for all my sons and all my ghost grandbabies to roam around. Big enough for me to think about all that sweetness they had stole from me and James and just holler about it as loud as I want to holler” (61). Minnie tells Miss Leah that Frank forced her to sign the deed. Miss Leah insists that they must build themselves even stronger because they can’t allow anyone to take any more of their babies. Minnie goes to sleep.

Miss Leah goes out to the porch and tells Wil and Fannie that Minnie hasn’t lost the baby. Sophie has gone to track Frank, and Wil has brought Miss Leah some things that she requested from her own house. Sophie enters to announce that Frank has started to head back but isn’t moving quickly. She explains her plan to send Wil to lure Frank to the house. Then, she will shoot him. Fannie protests that killing Frank will make them just as wrong, but Sophie insists that they’re only doing what’s necessary to protect Minnie. She reminds Fannie about a man named Josh who was hitting his wife, Belle, and points out that because domestic violence wasn’t illegal, Josh didn’t have to answer for a crime until he killed Belle. Sophie asserts that nothing she was doing to build up the town meant anything “if a colored woman isn’t safe in her own house” (63). Wil offers to kill Frank for her, but Sophie insists on defending her own home.

Sophie sends Wil off to find Frank, and Miss Leah tells Sophie that she can’t allow her to go through with her plan. Indignantly, Sophie states that she doesn’t need permission. Miss Leah starts pulling out ingredients and tells her that they’re baking an apple pie. Sophie is confused. Miss Leah explains that shooting is “a messy business” (64) that inevitably requires the involvement of police and white people—but that people can die in many ways. She tells a story about a plantation she lived on and the slaveowner, Colonel Harrison, who bought a slave named Ella to cook for him. She was an excellent cook, and when the overseer wanted to rape Ella, Colonel Harrison said no. Still, Ella knew that as soon as Colonel Harrison left the house, the overseer would attack her. When Harrison went to town, Ella was waiting for the overseer with an apple pie. The overseer ate gladly, but before he ate even one slice, he was dead. Ella ran away, but before she left, she gave Miss Leah the recipe.

Minnie is resting while Miss Leah keeps watch over her. Wil and Sophie hide in the yard. In the kitchen, Fannie takes a freshly baked pie out of the oven. Frank enters cautiously, and Fannie welcomes him inside. Wil has told Frank that Fannie has agreed to accompany him to the land office. Fannie explains that she and Sophie have decided to buy the land from Frank themselves. He agrees, and they shake hands. Frank asks about Minnie, but Fannie tells him that she’s resting and offers him some pie while he waits. Frank is surprised that Fannie isn’t angry but suggests that he and Minnie ought to leave before Sophie returns. Fannie persuades him that Sophie is in town but is ready to forgive him anyway and suggested that Fannie give Frank a piece of her famous apple pie, which Frank can’t resist.

Frank eats, crowing about how he’ll go back to London, where most people don’t see him as anything but white. He adds that if only Minnie had lighter skin, they’d be allowed in first class. Suddenly, Frank starts to cough. He asks Fannie for water, but she refuses. Just as he realizes what has happened, he collapses. Sophie and Wil enter, and Wil verifies that Frank is dead. Minnie comes in with Miss Leah. She sees Frank’s body and experiences a range of emotions, from relief and sorrow to fury, finally realizing that her late husband was an abusive monster. Bravely, Minnie puts her hand into Frank’s pocket to reclaim the deed and then offers it to Sophie, but Sophie indicates that Minnie should keep it. Thankfully, Minnie clings to the deed and holds it to her body, finally feeling safe.

Seven months later, on an evening in April, Minnie enters the kitchen to find Miss Leah asleep in a chair, her hand touching the cradle on the table. Minnie looks healed, confident, and happy and has her hair in braids and ribbons. She is going dancing with her sisters. Minnie touches the brooch that’s pinned to her dress. Miss Leah wakes up and the two women smile at each other. The moon is bright, which Miss Leah says is a lucky sign. She predicts that tomorrow—and every other day—will be good. Minnie fusses over her baby, a girl. Fannie and Sophie enter, and Minnie gushes about how beautiful they look, adding that Wil should feel fortunate to have such a lovely fiancée. Sophie chides, “If colored people paid as much attention to saving the race as they do their dancing, we’d be free by now” (70). Fannie shushes her, noting that Nicodemus was much more tranquil since Sophie won her vote.

Minnie complains that Sophie isn’t dressed up enough. She takes off her brooch and pins it to Sophie’s dress, telling her to protect it because it belonged to her mother. Wil arrives to take them to the dance, with flowers for Fannie. Minnie worries that she ought to stay with her daughter, but Miss Leah insists that she can take care of a baby. Wil mentions that he saw the Bakers with their baby. Minnie, Fannie, and Wil exit. Sophie straightens her brooch. Miss Leah tells Sophie not to give any speeches at the dance and urges her out the door. Sophie leaves the shotgun next to Miss Leah’s chair. Outside, Sophie stretches her arms out and turns around, taking in “her land, her freedom, the moon, her life and the life of her sisters” (71). Alone with the baby, Miss Leah picks her up. She promises to tell her the story of her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother—the strong Black women who came before her and prepared the way—and “all those fine colored women, makin’ a place for you” (71). She rocks the baby, and Sophie keeps spinning.