Good Dirt

Ebby goes home with Robert and has sex with him. She feels that she is “trying to disappear from herself” (127).

Ebby doesn’t want to be pulled back into her past, and she wonders if writing down the family’s Old Mo stories might help. She hears a hoopoe bird calling and wonders if it is an omen of some kind. Henry knocks on the door.

It is the year 1843. Moses enjoys his life with Flora, which is filled with laughter despite his circumstances. However, Flora is bitten by a viper in the fields and dies. Moses then begins experimenting with writing messages on the bottom of his jars, knowing that he risks exposing the fact that he is literate. One phrase that he writes is, “Lord have mercy” (133).

Back in 2019, Henry asks if he can talk to Ebby, but she refuses. He leaves, and she remembers that on the day he left, there was a report of a murder; at the time, she worried that the murderer might be Henry. Now, she decides to change her hair color and drives to the next town, glancing at a white SUV that is heading into a vineyard. Ebby recalls how easy it felt to be with Robert, and how they laughed to discover that it was his grandfather who kept calling Hannah’s house, asking for Robert.

It is the year 1847. Moses asks a newcomer, Betsey, to turn the potter’s wheel for him while he works on the larger pieces. Betsey is younger, but Moses looks forward to seeing her. One day, Moses sees Martin Oldham’s nephew, Jacob, entering Betsey’s cabin. When he sees Betsey again, she has bruises and acts very subdued.

Betsey knows that people call her a “slave,” but that is not how she thinks of herself. Betsey likes being around the clay, and she likes Moses. When she tries to refuse Jacob Oldham’s advances, he abuses her. One day, when she refuses to go with him, Jacob ties her in a storage shed and puts a rope around her neck. He doesn’t allow others to intervene. Betsey decides that “[i]f she was to die, she would die as a woman. As a person” (143).

It is the year 1847. Moses is saddened by Betsey’s death. He works at his pottery, “and as he looked back at all that had happened, his thoughts would leave their imprint in the clay” (145).

Back in 2019, Avery hasn’t seen Henry in hours and asks Ebby to help look for him. Ebby doesn’t want to get involved.

Avery reads news about a local crime scene. She decides to ask Ebby for help again.

Ebby writes about Moses and Betsey’s history. She writes about the words that Moses carves on the bottom of one of his jars. Avery reports that a woman’s body has been found, and Ebby wonders if Henry could be responsible.

Ebby and Avery talk as they drive around looking for Henry. Ebby recalls that she wept after she heard about a school shooting, but that as a Black woman, she knew she couldn’t become hysterical in public. Now, the two women approach the police, saying that they are looking for a missing friend.

Ed reads about the woman who was murdered near where Ebby is staying, and Soh frets. They both often warn their daughter to be careful. Ed goes to the beach to go clamming and considers leaving.

While Henry was out taking pictures, he slipped and hit his head, losing his cellphone in the river and injuring his ankle. Two policemen find him.

Ebby is questioned by the police. She doesn’t believe that Henry could be responsible for the crime. She and Avery have established a tentative alliance.

The police learn that the woman was murdered by her partner. Ebby and Avery laugh together over Henry’s fall.

Ebby and Avery go sightseeing together and learn about the legend of Melusine. Avery suspects that Henry is still attached to Ebby. Avery thinks that Melusine’s story is about “being rejected for not living up to her lover’s view of her” (170).

Ebby is surprised to think that, under other circumstances, she and Avery could have been friends. She tells Avery about the family’s jar.

It is the year 1831. The narrative reflects that, in 1670, a group of planters from Barbados came to what would be called South Carolina. Willis was born there in 1817. His mother, who was enslaved, died when Willis was young and his father was sold away. When he is 14, Willis takes his first trip to the port city and is impressed. He sees people wearing badges announcing their occupations, and some of the badges read “FREE” (175).

Ebby and Avery eat lunch together as Ebby tells Avery about Willis.

It is the year 1831. Willis is impressed by the sailing ship. He sees that the Black crew members have been held in prison while the ship is in port. The locals don’t want free Black men giving enslaved people ideas about freedom and rebellion. Willis’s friend, Old Joe, says, “They can’t tie up the mind […]. So they lock up the black jacks” (180). Willis asks about Frenchie, who is climbing the rigging.

Frenchie, a sailor, has learned that he can be questioned or locked up based on the color of his skin, so he hides from the inspector. Willis is intrigued by the tales of life aboard ship and the fact that people could sometimes escape on them. Frenchie says, “We cannot undo the worst days of our past, but we can always look to better days. A man might have fear, young Willis, but he lives all the same” (184).

Back in 2019, Avery talks Ebby into visiting the seaside while Henry recovers in the hospital. Ebby senses that Henry’s relationship with Avery must be smoother than his was with Ebby. When Avery makes a comment about African water spirits, Ebby reacts: “People see her skin color and decide that her heritage is more foreign in nature than theirs” (187). Avery says she has some German heritage, but she thinks a longing for the sea is in human nature, as demonstrated by Willis.

The year is 1847. Although teaching an enslaved person to read and write is against the law, Martin Oldham has tolerated Moses’s literacy. After Betsey’s death, Moses wrote five words into a disk that would go on the bottom of a jar, then fired it. One day, Willis sees the bottom of the jar as he is loading it into a wagon. Two weeks later, he is gone.

Willis acquires a fake badge that lets him drive to the docks of the port city. He has packed items into the jar as he carries it aboard ship. He takes the jar to the hold and hides.

Willis stays hidden for several days, but he goes up on deck when he hears people shouting about a monster. The men have spotted a whale, and Willis is in awe. He thinks that although he has lived among monsters and is running from monsters, “this was one of God’s creatures” (195). He is recognized as a stowaway, but he begs not to be sent back. As he considers the stories that he has heard from his shipmates, Willis thinks, “To tell your story was to experience a kind of freedom” (196).

The “black jacks” who find Willis help him to stay by putting him to work. The words on the bottom of the jar give Willis courage despite the risk. He takes on a new name, Edward Freeman of Massachusetts, but he still thinks of himself as Willis.