Chapters 7-10 Summary

Chapter 7. One night Clay-Boy waits up late with his mother for Clay to return from work. Olivia is afraid that Clay has gone drinking, spending all of his pay check. However, when Clay returns home he tells Olivia that he has been gone making a deal on a saw with a neighbor, John Pickett, the only rich man in the area. Clay has purchased the saw to help him build the house at a cost of forty dollars, to be paid out five dollars a month. Olivia is unhappy with the purchase, but grateful there is only six dollars missing from Clay's pay. Clay's words, and actions, remind her of the night they sneaked away from her parents and convinced the Baptist minister to marry them even though he knew it was against her mother's wishes. She also remembers how he...