Chapter 33: Annie

Annie accepts that Bobo is truly gone after his perfunctory visits and small cash drop, discovering she cannot sleep alone without the warmth she’d grown used to. Working Wednesdays at the Elektra with Babydoll, Annie notes Mr. Wilson’s softened attention after learning she is no longer “spoken for.”

On a busy first-of-the-month Wednesday without Babydoll, Mr. Wilson lingers after closing, asks for Sazeracs, and flatters Annie. He follows her behind the bar and initiates sex, the encounter driven less by tenderness than his practiced entitlement. Annie, lonely and vulnerable, yields despite misgivings.

Babydoll later chastises Annie, warning the affair endangers their jobs. Annie soon grows disenchanted: Mr. Wilson is older, married, careless, and inconsiderate, his war stories culminating in the reveal of a long-standing marriage that makes Annie feel sullied rather than desired.

Seeking solace, Annie attends Mass with Babydoll and Clyde and sees Bobo, dressed neatly with his new, respectable girlfriend’s family. Back home, Annie writes Niecy, confessing a likely pregnancy confirmed by a pending test and admitting Mr. Wilson is the father.

The crisis deepens when Mrs. Wilson storms the Elektra, mistakenly attacks Babydoll, and is handily beaten, resulting in both women losing their jobs. Annie concludes she cannot marry Mr. Wilson and asks Niecy to help her come to Atlanta to seek a remedy for the pregnancy, promising to repay any loan and find new work.