Marked by Fire Chapter 2 Summary

Thursday Morning
September 6, 1951

  • Patience and the other workers head to the field, where the foreman starts a fire to warm them in the early dawn.
  • At mid-morning, Patience drags her bag of cotton over to the foreman and is suddenly overcome with its weight. Her water breaks and she goes into labor, which majorly freaks out the foreman, who calls for Mother Barker.
  • Mother Barker and the other women come to Patience's aid, boiling water and laying her on top of their cotton sacks. The foreman bounces A.S.A.P. because he's a dude and this is most definitely lady business (it's the 1950s, remember).
  • With the help of the women, Patience gives birth to Abyssinia.