Tar Baby

Sydney and Ondine sleep peacefully, while Valerian is awake upstairs since he often naps during the day in the greenhouse. Margaret is asleep in her own room, while Jadine lies awake in the next room over. Two months ago, Jadine had been in Paris when she got the news that she had been chosen for the cover of Elle. It was one of the happiest days of her life. She decided to throw a dinner party and went to the grocery store to get supplies. There, she became transfixed by a Black woman in a yellow dress. Jadine followed the woman out of the store. Eventually, the woman turned to look at Jadine and spit on the ground. After that, the dinner party went well. Three men were vying for Jadine’s affection at the time, and it seemed like nothing was missing from her life.

On the Isle des Chevaliers, Jadine gets out of bed. She thinks about the woman whom she saw spit in Paris and wonders why she craved that woman’s respect. Instead, by spitting, the woman made Jadine feel lonely and fake. She and Ryk had set a date for a marriage, but then the woman spit, and Jadine left to see her aunt and uncle to see what they would think of her prospective marriage. She thinks that they won’t like that Ryk is white, but at least a white European man is better than a white American man. Sydney and Ondine became Jadine’s only family after her mother died, but Jadine never lived with them. They did help with her expenses in college, though, and they also got Valerian to pay for tuition.

Meanwhile, Valerian is awake in his room. He recalls how, when he was seven, his father died, and his uncles decided to look after his education, having decided that Valerian would take over the family candy business, Street Brothers Candy. When Valerian got older, he went through nine years of a childless and unhappy first marriage. At 39, after getting divorced, he went to a convention for industrial food appliance sales in Maine and saw Margaret, who stood on a float in a parade as Miss Maine. They got married, Michael was born, and Valerian promised himself he would retire as soon as he turned 65. To prepare for that retirement, he bought an island in the Caribbean and built a house there. He sold parcels of land to people he thought would be good and unobtrusive neighbors.

Unlike Valerian, Michael did not take to the candy business. When Valerian became convinced that he would never truly be close to his son, he built the greenhouse as a place where he could “greet death.” While Valerian stayed on at the candy company two years past his self-imposed deadline to retire at 65, he was eventually able to retire and live at L’Arbe de la Croix full-time.

In her room, Margaret is not quite asleep and not quite awake. As a child, Margaret’s red hair puzzled her parents, both of whom had brown hair. She married Valerian at 17 and moved into his house in Philadelphia, which was larger than her elementary school. In the early years of their marriage, Valerian’s house and his wealth intimidated Margaret. But she loved the dinners and concerts he took her to. She and Ondine became friends. Ondine planned to teach Margaret a recipe, which Margaret recognized as an honor since Ondine didn’t like to share recipes or the kitchen.

But before that happened, Valerian admonished Margaret that she should “guide the servants, not consort with them.” Margaret and Valerian fought about it. Margaret argued that Black people were equal to white people. Valerian argued that that wasn’t the point. Instead, the point was Margaret’s “ignorance and her origins.” Then, Margaret got pregnant and gave birth to Michael. Now that he’s an adult, Margaret thinks Michael is the smartest and kindest person she knows. She loves being around him, and that’s why she wants to move closer to him.