Chapter 8: Annie

After ten days at Lulabelle’s brothel, Annie notes the surprising house rule of mandatory Sunday worship led by Lulabelle. Summoned to the Jim Walter house, Annie meets a silent maid her age who calls Lulabelle “Mama.” Lulabelle clarifies the girl isn’t her child but a ward she rescued, setting a tone of complicated kinship.

Lulabelle has Annie read Genesis 16 aloud, alternating scripture and “colored” retelling, spurring debate about Sarah, Hagar, mixed heritage, and babies taken or claimed. Lulabelle links biblical stories to her and her sister Lurelia’s loveless upbringing and her effort to cultivate love through roses. She teases that Bobo is destined for Annie and warns that Clyde’s spending is erasing their earnings.

As Annie scratches and braids Lulabelle’s hair, their talk turns blunt: quests for lost mothers, the way pregnancy changes a woman’s outlook, and the hard realities of sex work. Lulabelle outlines three paths for pregnancies in the house—let the woman work until showing and send her off, arrange an adoption-like transfer, or engage a discreet white doctor from Meridian—favoring the doctor to avoid turmoil and spectacle.

After hours of careful cornrows, Lulabelle admires Annie’s skill, then has the style taken down to maintain her madam image. She decides to contact the doctor and heads to Lurelia’s to use the phone, the maid arranging a ride. Annie leaves with a postcard, paper, and stamps but no pencil, recognizing both small lacks and the larger setback: Clyde’s debt means they are not leaving soon.