Who Owns Cross Creek? Summary

Rawlings tells a funny story of Einstein discarding a French prune stuffed with an almond because he thought the chef had neglected to remove a squab's gizzard. She feels people at Cross Creek draw conclusions about the world from knowing a small portion of it so well. They feel one another's problems and are tolerant and generous. Rawlings speaks of a girl who is physically ill from "throwing away" her unborn child and needs a doctor. Rawlings gives Martha $3 to help her. When her female dog is poisoned, Rawlings assumes her neighbor Tom did the deed, and then she assumes he has cut her fences when hogs intrude. When they finally talk, she finds he has committed neither crime.

Rawlings tells of a three-way relationship in which the woman in the middle became ill, and the two...