Chapter 11 Summary

Janie decides that at twenty-five, Tea Cake is too young for her, and he is probably the kind of man who lives with various women, never willing to settle down. It does not look like he has much, and she makes up her mind to snub him. However, when he reappears at the store a week later, strumming an imaginary guitar, she melts despite all her intentions. Later that night, he convinces her to go on a midnight fishing trip with him, something so crazy Janie cannot help but like it. They cook the fish and stay up all night, and Janie smuggles him out the back door of the house so nobody sees.

All the same, Hezekiah warns Janie against him, saying she is too good for Tea Cake, who does not have a thing except a change of clothes and has...