herself to read. John agrees but says that Delie is teaching Sarny something worse: to be afraid. Sarny later comes up with a plan for Callie to visit the Doctor secretly, offering to potty-train Homer and swipes his alphabet blocks. This angers a slave, Old Man who had had a finger chopped off after he had learned to read. John shouts out that words are freedom, that the white folks keep words to themselves and that if the slaves had words, they would be free. Later that night, John writes Sarny's name in the dirt saying that the letters meant herself. The next day, Clel recruits everyone in his family to help with picking cotton from the fields, promising a feast to everyone if they are successful with the crop. Later that day when John lovingly teaches Sarny numbers, Delie agrees to learn as well. Sarny reads the bible and is baptized. It is revealed Sarny had stolen a bible that Jeffrey, the master's other son was supposed to take care of which gets him in trouble from his father. She discovers that she had been lied to and that God was on the slave's side. As Sarny begins to read more and more, the rest of the slaves reject it and tell her to stop. She begins to read a story in the Gazette newspaper about a slave insurrection (Nat Turner's and his army of slaves), capturing the other slaves’ attention. Sarny then tricks Homer into playing hide and seek so she can go back and read Clel's record book. The Waller plantation had a good crop of cotton this year and as promised, Clel throws a feast. The slaves use this opportunity to let Outlaw and Egypt get married. It is discovered later that Egypt is pregnant and is forced to run away. John forges Clel's signature for Outlaw and his wife so they can escape. Jeffrey discovers the stolen bible, and Delie takes the blame. Clel tries to figure out who had taken the bible because he knows that Delie did not know how to read. With no one confessing, Jeffrey whips Delie once. As he tries to continue, he is stopped by John who says that he was the one who took it. This results in Clel chopping off John's fingers as punishment. When asked if he had learned his lesson, John writes letters in the