Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe

The magic hour finally arrives. Miss V. takes Cricket back to the Bird Room, which looks particularly beautiful. When Cricket’s watch shows 5:30, the sunlight comes to rest on a praying mantis. There is no visible constellation. Miss V. and Cricket are disappointed; they have hit another dead end.

Cricket and Charlene sit outside on the porch. Cricket is upset that she will not have a treasure to show Mama tomorrow when she comes back. Suddenly, Cricket has an idea. The sun sets earlier in February than it would in March, when Bob wrote the note in the Bird Room, so Cricket needs to work out the time difference.

Miss V. gets an almanac to determine the time of sunset when Bob wrote the note. Using that information, they find the spot on the wall just over from the mantis. They find a tanager with a star in its mouth. Miss V. sees faint dotted lines coming out of the star. She guesses that the dotted lines must lead to somewhere in the real world, like a map. Beneath the star, Cricket sees writing that says “Worthy #1”. She realizes that she knows where to start.

Cricket takes Miss V. to the tree with the tanager carving that reads “Worthy #3.” She brings the “Worthy #2” tuning rod with her. Miss V. corrects her; it is a dowser, not a tuning rod. There were 20 dotted lines pointing south from the painted tanager, so they walk 20 paces south from the tanager tree. Letting the dowser lead the way, they end up in the cemetery.

The dowser leads them to Miss V.’s family plot. They dig and uncover a metal case. They have found the treasure. Cricket draws a cricket in the dirt by her grandmother’s grave so that Mama will be expecting her.

Cricket and Miss V. open the metal case in Miss V.’s kitchen. Instead of gold or jewels, they find Bob’s drawings and paintings. Cricket is disappointed, but Miss V. is pleased; Bob is now dead, so she can remember him through his art. After years of not seeing each other, Bob turned up and asked if he could stay a few days to rest. Later, Miss V. learned that he had just been released from a psychiatric hospital. Although Bob was a talented artist, not everyone appreciated his work. Bob painted the Bird Room during his time with Miss V. before leaving suddenly. She says he walked a thousand miles to get home.

Miss V. says that Bob “carried on the best he knew how” (197), just like Mama, but he did not have a mental illness. She also tells Cricket that she is Cricket’s father’s second cousin once removed. If things do not work out with Mama, Cricket is welcome to stay with her. The next morning, Cricket wakes up late.

Cricket runs to the cemetery and sees Mama crouched over Grandma’s grave. Grandma’s headstone has been installed. Mama looks different. Her hair has been cut shorter, and there is a strange man with her. Cricket bursts out of the woods, and Mama is surprised to see her. She hugs Cricket and Cricket is shocked to see that she is pregnant. Mama tells Cricket that she is going to be a big sister and introduces the man as Brian. Everything feels wrong to Cricket.

Mama explains that she now lives in Memphis with Brian and that they were planning on getting Cricket to come and stay with them “as soon as [they are] all settled” (204). Brian says they were not planning to see Cricket on this trip. Cricket tells Mama that she found the Bird Room and that Mama was right—“the light on the walls makes the paintings look alive” (205). Mama insists that the paintings did not just seem real, they were alive. Cricket wants to take Mama to see the room, but she refuses. Cricket feels like she is looking at a stranger and realizes that Mama does not want to change. She tells Mama that she cannot go to Memphis with her. She gives Mama the doogaloo. Mama tries to apologize, but she cannot get the words out. Cricket watches Mama and Brian drive away.

Cricket stares at the shadow that Grandma’s new headstone makes. It is in the shape of a tanager in flight. Although Cricket could not make Mama stay, she did manage to survive in the woods. She feels that she owes some of her success to what Mama taught her. Mama contains multitudes, but so does Cricket, and she wants to start taking chances on herself. Cricket tells Charlene that they are going to Stokes School.

Cricket tells Miss V. what happened with Mama; Miss V. is sympathetic and tells Cricket that she is welcome any time. A museum wants to buy Bob’s paintings, so there will be money to fix the roof.

Cricket goes to Aunt Belinda’s house to let her know that she is okay. Belinda is angry with her for leaving but relieved to have her back. Some other community members arrive, including the pastor. He asks Cricket how she ended up so far away from her family, and Cricket considers telling everyone that Belinda left her behind at the store. Remembering that Belinda works hard to care for her kids, Cricket lies and says that she decided to go camping by herself. The pastor gives Belinda the money that the church raised as a reward for Cricket’s safe return. Belinda promises to use the money for art supplies for Cricket.

Later, Belinda tells Cricket that she is sorry for planning to send Cricket to live with Great-Aunt Genevieve and that she is always welcome at Belinda’s house. Cricket tells Belinda that she wants to live part time with Miss V., and Belinda brings her back to Miss V.’s house. Miss V. tells Cricket that Charlene is a boy cricket because only male crickets chirp the way Charlene does. Cricket figures that either way, the cricket will always be Charlene.

Cricket spends one more night with Miss V. before heading to Stokes School for art camp. They look over Bob’s paintings one last time. They find a painting of Miss V. and Bob when they were kids. In the painting, their shadows point toward one another in a way that shadows would never do in real life. Cricket realizes that the answer to Bob’s riddle is “a shadow.”

The next day, Cricket says goodbye to Miss V. and walks back to the highway where Belinda will pick her up and take her to art camp. She realizes that she has to get used to “loving Mama and being mad at [her] for leaving” (230). She knows that she can do both because she contains multitudes.

As Cricket walks, she hears crickets chirping from the woods. She gently releases Charlene into the woods so that she can rejoin her family. Charlene chirps one more time and then soars into the woods. Cricket hears Charlene’s music and thinks that she has her “own soaring to do” (231).