The chapter opens with Celie preparing for school, fretting over a conspicuous spot on her chin and missing her good hairbrush, which Violet has taken. Celie’s internal monologue notes how she would once have shared such silly moments with her friend Meena, underscoring their current estrangement.

Hearing the front door, Celie steps into the hallway and senses an unusual silence, even Truant not barking. She glances downstairs and sees Lila standing in the doorway, hair messy, dusted with flour or sawdust, pale, and still wearing yesterday’s rumpled clothes, signaling that Lila did not come home overnight.

Curious, Celie moves further down the stairs and follows Lila’s stunned gaze into the kitchen. There, Bill stands fully dressed for the morning with a porridge-coated wooden spoon, and Gene stands beside him in a Joni Mitchell T-shirt and shabby boxer shorts, clutching cigarettes. Both men face Lila with matching expressions.

In a moment of unlikely synchronicity, Bill and Gene look at each other, then at Lila, and simultaneously demand, “And where the hell do you think you’ve been?” Their united disapproval surprises Celie and freezes the scene, emphasizing both Lila’s absence and the volatile domestic dynamic.

The chapter closes on Celie’s perspective of the tableau—Lila stunned in the doorway, and Bill and Gene unexpectedly aligned—leaving the confrontation and explanations to unfold after the chapter’s end.