Chapter 24

On Saturday, Weedpatch hums with preparation for the dance: baths, clean clothes, and a newly wired, lit platform. In Ezra Huston’s tent, the Central Committee reviews warnings that outsiders will spark a fight to justify a police raid. Huston instructs caution and assigns Willie Eaton to run a discreet security plan that prevents violence.

As guests arrive, guards watch the fences and Tom Joad mans the gate with Jule Vitela. Three nervous young men enter, falsely claiming an invitation. Verification exposes the lie, and spotters report armed deputies waiting nearby. Willie orders the dance to begin while twenty men quietly surround the trio.

When one agitator tries to seize a partner, a whistle sounds, but the men silently pinion the three and remove them off the floor. Deputies at the gate are denied entry for lack of a riot. In darkness, Huston confronts the provocateurs, urging them not to harm their own people; they refuse to name handlers and are escorted out the back fence uninjured with a warning.

Meanwhile, Ma Joad comforts the anxious, pregnant Rose of Sharon, keeping her seated and protected at the dance. Al prowls for partners; Ruthie and Winfield revel in the music. The Jesus-lovers watch grimly from a distance, condemning the festivities.

Near the office, Pa, Uncle John, and other men lament auctioned-down wages to twenty cents an hour and the shame and fighting their children face at school. Black Hat recounts how armed union solidarity calmed vigilantes in Akron, musing that similar organized resolve may be coming as restlessness grows among the migrants.