The Girls in the Stilt House

It is the spring of 1923, prior to the night depicted by the novel’s prologue. Ada can smell the fetid swamp before she can see it, and she remembers her mother’s death when Ada was nine. Now, Ada is 16 and returning to her father’s house after spending a year in Baton Rouge with a man she ran off with a year earlier. When she sees the dismal swamp, she is reminded of apparitions and of her fear and dread. Ada’s father is not home, and when she enters the house, she sees the squalor he’s created in her absence, reminded of all her mother “endured” during her life. As she awaits his return, she cleans the house and eventually goes to sleep, knowing she’ll wake when she hears him. She dreams of Jesse, the man she lived with in Baton Rouge.

Ada wakes early and hears the starlings outside. She hates them and their racket. When she was little, her father would make her collect the dead bodies of the starlings he shot. It scared her, but she didn’t have it in her to rebel. As Ada grew, she learned to hide her response to anything her father did so that he couldn’t delight in upsetting her. She became emotionless, not even crying when her mother died. Using the “new” outhouse, as she thinks of it, she remembers how her mother died when fire consumed the old outhouse, a fire started by the kerosene lamp her mother always carried to scare off snakes. By midday, the house is as clean as Ada can make it, and she bakes cornbread in case her father returns hungry. As she drifts off into a nap, she remembers that he always called her “Daughter” as if that were her name, and she settles into dreams of Jesse, who she still loves.

When Ada wakes, she finds a single pinecone in the middle of the table. She cannot imagine who might have sneaked into the house to leave it or why. Ada goes outside to look around, but she avoids the shed, which has always scared her. Later that day, she hears children laughing in the woods and decides they must have left the pinecone as a prank.

Six days pass, and Ada wonders if her father could be dead or in jail, and she is sometimes “revisited by the vague sense that there was something hiding in the woods” (30). She remembers her mother telling her what a miracle it is that cypress trees grow because their seeds require such specific conditions. That afternoon, while Ada is on her knees, cleaning the ash out of the wood stove, her father returns. His mere presence chills and frightens her.

Ada watches him as he assesses her work on the house. He leaves to check his traps and tells her to empty the wagon and prepare dinner. She knows he’s biding his time, figuring out how to humble her. He likes to feel like a “big man,” and this brings out the worst in him. Later, Ada can’t convince herself to discard the pinecone, feeling that it’s a “tie” to someone—anyone—other than her father. Over dinner, he makes her apologize for worrying and shaming him. She feels like a fox caught in one of his traps. He says that she left when he needed her most, and he implies that she will need to work hard to make it up to him. She tries to make it to the outhouse but vomits in the yard. Her father watches her. At bedtime, he tells her to drag her mattress out to the shed, and she suddenly realizes that she is “trapped,” like her mother was. He tells her to have breakfast ready at sunrise.

The narrator finally reveals Virgil Morgan’s name. Ada recalls how Peggy Creedle’s father, Curtis, came from Baltimore and bought a parcel of land on the other side of the Trace. Ada met Jesse because of Peggy. One night, Virgil was away, selling illegal beaver pelts, and Peggy took Ada to a carnival. Jesse was a musician there, and when he asked Ada about her life, her entire story poured out. When he invited her to come with him, she gladly accepted, and within the week, they were gone.

Now, she hears Virgil yelling, drunk, and he pushes into the shed. He calls Ada “trash” who’s too “dumb” to know she’s pregnant. He keeps yelling and insulting her, calling her “Sylvie,” her mother’s name. He accuses Sylvie of planning to take Ada and run off, saying he found her packed bag. Virgil admits that he “kick[ed] over the lantern, [and] latch[ed] the door [of the outhouse] shut,” claiming that he “had to do it” (57) so Sylvie would know that he knew her plans. He stabs at Ada with an iron rod and knocks a lantern into the straw on the floor. He starts backing out, a terrible smile on his face, then suddenly pitches forward. Standing behind him is a woman with a hammer.

Ada regains consciousness. The girl who saved her puts out the fire and tells Ada he’s dead. Ada is glad, recalling his confession that he killed her mother; the other girl, who is Black, calls him the devil. Ada struggles to make sense of everything, including her pregnancy. The girl reminds Ada that she hasn’t thanked her yet. Her name is Matilda, and she encourages Ada to consider who might come looking for Virgil or realize he’s missing. There’s no one but his liquor supplier. Later, Matilda gets Ada to help her move the body.

Matilda drives the wagon, and Ada has never felt more alive. They reach the Confederate gravesite and slide Virgil’s body into one of the tombs. Matilda slips a corncob into the tomb with “satisfaction” and tells Ada it’s “for [her]” (72). The next morning, Matilda tells Ada she’s probably about four months along, and Ada is grateful that Matilda will stay. Ada realizes she can sleep in the house now, and she laughs hysterically in relief.

Matilda admits to leaving the pinecone. She says she comes from the other side of the Trace. Matilda says they need to lay low for a while, and it’ll be just the two of them for a while. Ada is so relieved and grateful that she doesn’t care what Matilda says as long as she stays. Matilda says they will have to call on Gertie Tuttle, a local midwife, to help with Ada’s pregnancy. That night, Matilda loads the wagon with Virgil’s pelts and liquor and sets out. She trades them for supplies, though Ada doesn’t know where.

Gertie assures Ada that her pregnancy is healthy. Ada can tell that Gertie and Matilda know each other. Sometimes, Ada feels that Matilda is punishing her for something. Matilda takes Virgil’s work boots and trades them for some chickens. Then, she constructs a small yard for the birds. Ada realizes that Matilda meets someone in the woods every third morning to trade for supplies they need. Mathilda claims the shed as her own workspace, and she keeps two tablets of lined paper and a box of pencils there, spending hours at a time writing.

Matilda is a restless and noisy sleeper. Ada sees her “sadness,” but when she asks about it, Matilda’s face registers a “silent plea” that Ada ask no more questions. Neither girl wants to take Virgil’s bedroom, so they leave it empty. Matilda teaches Ada to drive the wagon, and knowing she can do it makes Ada feel less trapped. Ada and Matilda experience moments of camaraderie, but Matilda still treats Ada coolly most of the time.

In the summer of 1923, Ada’s pregnancy progresses. She is 17, and Matilda is 18. In late August, Ada’s water breaks, and Matilda goes to fetch Gertie. Though Ada wanted to try to contact Jesse about the baby, Matilda forbade it, referring again to Virgil’s death. Now, Ada thinks of him. He didn’t want her to go back to Virgil’s home, but she’d lied and told him she had somewhere else to go.

Ada gives birth to a girl, and Matilda suggests she name the baby Annis. Though Gertie warns against this, Matilda presses on, and Ada likes the name. Ada overhears Gertie cautioning Matilda about having to live with it.

When Annis is three days old, Ada wakes to hear Matilda talking again. Matilda often tries to calm herself by using her mother’s practice of thinking only about good things, but her mind goes to what she lost, what she saw and did, and how she hadn’t meant to kill Virgil.