Two years later, Marguerite and Bailey Jr. have become super good at multiplication. No big deal.
When they mess something up, Uncle Willie punishes them by burning them with the hot stove. Marguerite tries to jump into the stove instead (how is that better?) but her uncle saves her from an early death.
Uncle Willie was dropped as a baby, maiming him for life. And now everyone makes fun of him. Because everyone is mean.
Normally he is too proud to pretend not to be disabled, but Marguerite sees him fake it one time.
Two teachers from Little Rock (a.k.a. the Big City) come into the store, and Willie stands without his cane for them. Marguerite is totally confused about what is going on, and Uncle Willie makes her leave so she won't blow his cover. Then the couple drives away, and Uncle Willie gropes his way over to his cane.
Marguerite doesn't understand why he pretended not to be disabled, but she figures that he was just tired of everyone looking down at him—she gets it.
In other news, Maya has a crush on Shakespeare the way most people obsess over James Van Der Beek—um, Ryan Gosling. We mean Ryan Gosling.
Did we mention Shakespeare is a white guy? Maya feels a little weird about this.