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I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Chapter 13
In the hospital, Bailey tells her that she must tell him who did this to her, or he could hurt another girl. When she finally tells him, he begins to cry until she cries too. Bailey tells Grandmother Baxter, and Mr. Freeman is arrested. Maya wants to stay in the hospital forever, because everyone is so nice to her.
In court, Maya is very intimidated. Mr. Freeman's lawyer is cruel to her-he snidely asks her if she even knows if she was raped-and he forces her to say that the day of the rape was the first time Mr. Freeman had touched her. (If she revealed that he had done it before, her family would have been shocked that she had never told them.) She despises the lawyer for making her lie, and yells at him. Mr. Freeman is sentenced to a year and a day in prison, but he is released that afternoon. Later, as Bailey and Maya are playing Monopoly, a white policeman comes to the house and tells Grandmother Baxter that Mr. Freeman is dead-it appears he has been kicked to death. She hardly seems surprised. Maya thinks he is dead because she lied in court. She thinks everything is her fault, and she must do something to stop herself from causing more problems. She stops talking to everyone but Bailey. At first, everyone understands that she is traumatized. But after some time, people expect her to get better and she does not. Finally, they get very frustrated with her and sometimes even beat her. Eventually, the children get sent back to Stamps, and Bailey cries all the way there. Maya is convinced they are leaving because she is so disturbingly sullen. She doesn't care where she is, but she doesn't want Bailey to be sad.
