Joe Timeline and Summary

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Joe Timeline and Summary

  • It's a Saturday evening, payday for Joe and the one night he has free to spend with his wife, Missie.
  • He flings silver dollars through the door to announce his presence.
  • He hides behind a bush and Missie gives chase, pretending to be offended.
  • They move toward the house, where they play around inside and Missie discovers the gifts he has bought her.
  • Joe bathes while Missie makes dinner; later that night Joe takes Missie to the new ice cream parlor run by Otis D. Slemmons.
  • Joe wants to show off his pretty wife to Slemmons, who often talks about the many women he has.
  • They go back again the next week, and Joe can't stop talking about how cool Slemmons is.
  • One night, he gets off work early and thinks about how he wants to have a baby boy with Missie while on his way home.
  • He slips into the house to surprise Missie and hears a noise.
  • Joe finds Slemmons in his bedroom with his clothes off, beats him up and kicks him out.
  • They go to bed and Joe tells Missie to stop crying.
  • The next day he asks her to make him breakfast; for the next few months he is very cold towards her.
  • One day Joe comes home complaining of pains and asks for a rub from Missie.
  • They sleep together but he leaves the house in the morning and leaves Slemmons' gold piece on the bed.
  • A few weeks later Joe finds Missie chopping wood and tells her to stop because she's pregnant.
  • Missie gives birth and Joe's mother tells him it is his son.
  • Joe goes to Orlando to buy food and gifts for his wife and child.
  • When he gets back to Eatonville he throws silver dollars through the doorway for Missie.