A year later, their father, Bailey Sr., arrives in Stamps unexpectedly. The children are shocked and disturbed. He is very big, very handsome, and he speaks perfect, almost pretentious, English. Marguerite is impressed in spite of herself. He has wonderful clothes and a big car. She feels ugly next to him, and hates the way he teases her. Everyone admires him, and her world feels turned upside down. Then he announces he will take them to California. Marguerite ponders this: should she go? Should she drown herself? She has no idea what to do. Her grandmother tells her fiercely to be good.
In the car on the way there, she sits uncomfortably in the back, while Bailey and their father tell jokes in front. Suddenly, their father tells them that he's taking them to St. Louis to see their mother. This terrifies Marguerite, but her father just laughs. In St. Louis, she tries to talk Pig Latin to her brother, and when her father laughingly speaks it too, she gets angry. She thought her brother had made up the language.
Their mother is absolutely beautiful, and Bailey falls in love with her instantly. A few days later their father leaves, and Marguerite accepts this without question. "He was a stranger, and if he chose to leave us with a stranger, it was all of one piece." Chapter 9, pg. 59
