Ruby

Ruby eats breakfast as Ephram determinedly cleans the filthy house. Partway through, Celia appears at the door and tries to drag him to church, shouting out rancorous Bible verses. Though Ephram seems deflated when she leaves, he continues cleaning.

Ruby thinks of the first man who raped her after her return to Liberty, an old friend of her grandfather who quickly spread word of her vulnerability around town. Ruby leaves her door unlocked and has a regular stream of rapists, from churchgoers to boys from the local high school. Lately, Ruby has enjoyed the encounters. In the moments of the act, the men seem to need her—it is “the only power she ha[s] ever known on earth” (123).

As Ruby watches Ephram scrub her floor, she feels a mounting panic and vomits on the bed. She is certain that Ephram will use the pretense of cleaning her up to rape her, a thought that calms her in its familiarity. Instead, he lets her clean herself. As he continues scrubbing, he hums a tune that drives away the homeless spirits who have long occupied her room.

Ruby approaches Ephram and tries to seduce him. When he gently rejects her, Ruby is stung by his pity.