The Yearling

September is hot and dry, and food is scarce. Predators scavenge the leftover summer vegetation and most animals have migrated to the swampland where food is more plentiful, forcing the Baxters to forage for food. They cut the hearts out of palmetto trees to cook and eat, a delicacy they call “swamp cabbage” (232). Penny shoots a rattlesnake and hangs its skin on the wall as a trophy of his triumph over his snakebite. Ora worries that hungry bears will come for Flag. Jody thinks bears don’t attack deer, but Penny says he once saw a bear eat an entire bull. The lack of rain becomes a hardship, but Penny, skilled at predicting the weather, claims a three-day storm is coming.

The sky darkens and the winds shift as a hurricane approaches, and the Baxters prepare the farm. Julia and Flag come inside the house, and Jody looks forward to cozying up by the fire with Penny and listening to his stories. Ora is unhappy with all the animals in the house, but Penny says Flag is part of the family, just like Julia and Rip; he thinks of Flag as a boy. She says she hates the smell of wet fur, but Penny loves it and tells the story of the time he was hunting in the cold without a coat and shot a bear, skinned it, and slept in its hide. For the first day of the storm, the family eats well and Penny entertains Jody with stories of his first hunting dog, who was clever at baiting animals by making them double back on their trail and therefore easier to catch.

As the rain continues, the family becomes more worried about their crops and livestock. Jody feeds the animals and finds that their cow and her calf have escaped to higher ground; the calf has drunk almost all its mother’s milk. With their food stores running low, Penny and Jody inspect their pea crop and find rotting pods, flattened corn, and ruined sugar cane: “It was a lost and desolate world, like the beginning of time, or the end of it” (246). They collect peas and corn and bring them into the cabin to dry; they harvest their underripe sweet potatoes. The storm rages on and even the ever-optimistic Penny doubts they’ll survive much longer, comparing their plight to that of the biblical Job. After eight days of torrential rain, the weather breaks but the homestead is flooded, and the family’s crops are mostly destroyed. Penny calls for everyone to come outside, like Noah and his family leaving the ark.

Two days after the storm, Buck and Mill-wheel set out to see the wider scope of the storm’s destruction and hunt for meat. Penny and Jody join the brothers to scout the surrounding areas, kill dangerous predators that might venture too close to their homes, and check on Doc Wilson. Julia and Rip join the hunting party, but Penny tells Jody that it’s too dangerous for Flag to come along. The Forresters have plenty of ammunition, and Penny spent his days trapped inside the cabin preparing a month’s supply of shotgun shells. Penny also brings a frying pan, grease, and panther oil he uses to soothe his arthritis. Lem has gone to check on Twink, but Buck says if he gets into another fight with Oliver, he’ll be on his own this time.

Dead animals float in the storm water and dangle from tree limbs where the water is receding, and Jody notices a difference in forest sounds, as the surviving animals have retreated to higher ground and the treetops. Silver Glen is flooded and full of snakes, and the group is amazed at the destruction wrought by the storm: “Where there had been swamp, there were ponds. Where there had been hammock, there was swamp” (254). Doc Wilson’s cabin is empty, but he left a note saying he traveled to the ocean to stay drunk until the storm abates. The men take biscuits and a bottle of whiskey before leaving the house.

All the forest’s predators have converged in one area to drink and feed. The Forresters want to shoot a bear, but Penny convinces them to conserve it for food. The hunting party shoots a large buck and several big cats to eliminate risk to their livestock. The dogs tree a mother panther and her cubs, and the men decide to shoot the mother. Jody begs for the cubs’ lives, but as soon as they fall from the tree, the dogs kill them. Penny gets a fire going with wet wood, and prepares deer meat for the men and cat meat for the hungry dogs. Mill-wheel hands him grease to fry swamp cabbage. Jody tries the panther’s liver; according to legend, if someone eats big cat liver, it’ll make them fearless. Mill-wheel and Penny agree that hunted food cooked outside is the best kind of meal. Penny realizes that Mill-wheel handed him panther oil instead of grease, and they all have a good laugh about the mistake.

The men share their bottle of whiskey and begin making moss pallets for beds. Penny says a feather bed is the most comfortable way to sleep, reminding him of a story about Pa Forrester. When Penny was a young boy, his preacher father visited the Forresters and found Pa Forrester drunk and tearing up a feather bed. Ma Forrester just sat on the porch and calmly watched as feathers flew all over the yard. Buck and Mill-wheel laugh hysterically, and Jody is in awe of his father’s storytelling. Jody fights sleep so he can continue listening to the men spin stories.

After breaking camp, the men travel southward and find a flooded area full of mullet, a fish that normally lives in brackish lakes and rivers, alerting them to the extent of the flooding. The water is also full of bears grabbing fish, and they decide to harvest several bears to sustain their families until they recover from the storm. Penny allows Jody to shoot their one bear, and the latter is overwhelmed with pride at providing for his family. Mill-wheel and Buck hitch their oxen and lend Penny one of their horses to haul the Baxters’ game. Jody enjoyed the hunt but is glad to be going home to Flag.

Penny spends two weeks trying to save the family’s crops, but it’s almost a total loss. He digs up immature, mostly rotten sweet potatoes and leaves them to dry on the porch. The cow-peas, a staple in their diet, are ruined—save what Penny and Jody picked during the storm—and the sugar cane is flattened. Penny must harvest grass from the marsh to dry for hay for the animals. After a month, the stench of rot and death in the air sickens Jody and worries Penny. Taking the dogs and Flag to investigate, father and son find a sick panther and a deer with a black tongue. Penny fears that a plague called “black tongue” has infected the animals, as it’s caused by drinking unclean water. Jody panics and worries about Flag, but Penny doesn’t have answers to his questions. They return home and deliver the bad news to Ora, who barely reacts after having endured so many tragedies. Penny rides to the Forresters and returns with confirmation that all the animals in the area are sick and dying, and there’s little they can do but keep their animals close to home and give them clean water.

Fall is normally a time of abundance, but the plague left few animals to hunt. Worried that starving predators will take their livestock, Penny builds a pen to shelter the pigs at night, but Old Slewfoot attacks and kills their fattest pig. Penny slaughters all the hogs to preserve their most valuable food source, and they use every part of the pigs including their tails. With the smokehouse well stocked, Penny is hopeful that they‘ll have enough food for winter. Penny and Pa Forrester had planned to hire a teacher for Jody and Fodder-wing in the winter, but with Fodder-wing gone and no game to trade for money, Penny becomes Jody’s teacher; at night, he conducts lessons in math and reading but mostly just tells stories.

Flag grows stronger and more mischievous, and both Ora and Penny become frustrated and angry when the fawn almost ruins their sweet potato pile. Jody is busy grinding corn at the mill all day, but his parents tell him to watch the fawn more closely. He builds a pen, but Flag immediately jumps out; Jody cries, not knowing what to do. Penny helps Jody transform the pen into a sweet potato covering, and Jody is hopeful that they solved the problem. However, Flag breaks into the smokehouse, and Jody must patrol the door to verify it’s always closed.

The first frost arrives, and the Baxters sit cozily around the fire while Ora hems a pair of Penny’s pants to fit Jody’s growing frame. Jody stares into the flames, trying to summon the image of Fodder-wing’s Spaniard. Suddenly, Penny rushes to check on the baying dogs and sees a pack of mangy wolves has killed the family’s calf. Julia kills one wolf, and Penny runs the rest away with his shotgun, but the staggering loss of the calf leaves him speechless. The sight of so many wolves on their property unnerves everyone, and Penny resolves to ride to the Forresters the next day to ask for help.

Ora refuses to stay alone, so Jody remains; he spends all day worrying about Flag’s safety while completing his chores. Penny returns with news that the wolf pack is attacking farms all over the area, including a cow and a bull at the Forresters’ home. The Forresters want to set out poison to kill the wolves, but Penny vehemently disagrees. Ora and Jody argue that they must do it or risk losing their animals, but Penny says, “Tearin’ up the calf was nature. They was hungry. Pizen jest somewat ain’t natural. Tain’t fair fightin” (300). Penny thinks the wolves won’t attack them again, but Jody reminds him about Flag. He wants to side with his father, but wonders if Penny is wrong this time. Penny is angry that the family has fallen on hard times and is now at odds with each other.

Jody collects hickory nuts and stains his shirt bringing them to the cabin. He worries his mother will be angry and decides he can’t do anything right in her eyes. The Forresters go ahead with their plan, carefully planting poisoned bait for the wolves and marking these spots with palmetto leaves. Penny doesn’t actively help, but keeps Julia and Rip tied up for a week. He tells Ora that Oliver has run off with Twink, and Lem is threatening to kill them both. Jody is angry and decides his friendship with Oliver is over, and wishes he could throw something at Twink. He falls asleep, dreaming of Twink dying from eating poison.

The Forresters poison 30 wolves, but both of their dogs also eat the poison and die. The Forrester men—along with Penny, Jody, and their dogs—track the remaining wolves to a watering hole, where Lem spots a large buck and lifts his gun to shoot. Penny tells him to wait. Mother bears with cubs and wolves appear, but Penny worries they’re too far away to get a clean shot; he sends Jody to shoot at the wolves to bring them closer, allowing the others to kill 12 wolves. Lem demands they send the dogs after the other wolves, but Buck and Penny refuse, saying the dogs will never catch them. The men capture 10 bear cubs to sell in Jacksonville. The cubs escape into a tree, and Jody shakes them out; the men decide to shoot the two older cubs because they’re too wild to tame. Penny and Jody leave to hunt an alligator on the way home. They take a buck and one of the dead cubs; Jody wishes Fodder-wing was still alive to see the captured bear cubs. Jody wants to take a cub home, but it claws at him. Penny tells Lem to stop poking one of the cubs with a stick, and Lem threatens to fight him until Buck intervenes. After the Forresters are gone, Penny tells Jody that he did well on the hunt; Jody nearly faints from exhaustion, and Penny gives him food to revive him.  

Jody misses Flag’s company since he listens to him talk without judgment. At Juniper Springs, Penny shoots a large alligator for its tail meat; the meat will be given to the dogs, and the oil will condition his boots. Penny spots Lem’s large buck trailing a doe and drops it with one shot, exclaiming, “Now I hated to do that” (319). Ora is thrilled that father and son have returned early and with food. Jody is exhausted and falls asleep listening to his parents make a list of goods they’ll purchase with the earnings from the bear cubs; they need a new axe head, gunpowder, and cloth. The Forresters arrive the next morning to collect Penny’s list, and when Lem sees the buckskin (from “his” large buck), he attacks Penny. Ora runs inside and grabs the gun, while Penny explains he never intended to shoot the buck and planned to share the meat. Buck intervenes and apologizes for Lem’s anger, saying he hasn’t been himself since Twink left. Penny appreciates Buck’s loyalty, but remains bothered by Lem’s behavior. Jody wonders why his father didn’t fight, and Penny explains that he’ll only kill a man if it’s worth it. Jody decides he hates Lem.

In December, big game is scant so Penny and Jody hunt curlews. The bear cub trade in Jacksonville went well, and Ora gets everything on her list with change to spare for Christmas gifts. However, when Buck arrives with their packages, Penny senses something’s off with their relationship and wonders if Lem convinced them that he cheated them of the buck. Ora is fine with severing ties, but Penny reminds her of Buck’s kindness when he was ill with his snakebite. Buck returns to report that they killed more wolves, but bears—particularly Old Slewfoot—are regularly killing their calves.

Since work is light, Jody spends most of his days with Flag, who’s growing lanky and losing his spots. He takes his gun and Flag out to hunt every day, and dreams about Christmas. Jody harvests Cherokee beans and makes a necklace for Ora as a Christmas gift. With the money left over from the bear sale, Penny looks forward to buying Christmas gifts and a special meal. The family plans a trip to Volusia to shop and visit Grandma Hutto. Penny and Jody hunt, hoping to find game to trade in Volusia—but Julia refuses to follow a scent trail. The former beats her, but realizes Julia is refusing to track Flag because she recognizes him as a family member. Father and son harvest a large buck and a smaller deer on the second day, and make use of every body part before dining on their livers and hearts.

Jody ties Flag up in the shed with enough food and water for the night. The family dresses in their best clothes and takes a wagon loaded with goods to trade in Volusia. At the ferry crossing, Jody feels pity for the sad ferryman’s son who doesn’t enjoy the same freedom he has. When Jody asks the boy if he has a gun, the latter looks away and doesn’t answer. At Boyles’s, Ora does her trading and sends Jody outside so she can buy him a Christmas gift. She leaves for Grandma Hutto’s while Jody stays to listen to Mr. Boyles and Penny talk. Penny makes his trade and gets alpaca wool for Ora’s Christmas gift. All the men in the store gather around as Penny tells of the events of the summer—including his snakebite, the flood, and the plague: “Jody lived the summer over again, and it was better than when it happened, the way Penny told it” (336). Penny sends Jody ahead to Grandma Hutto’s, since he knows Ora and her don’t get along.

The flood destroyed Grandma Hutto’s garden, and Easy is living in her shed since his house is gone. Ora and Grandma Hutto exchange terse words over religion and how women should dress. Jody is happy when Penny arrives to break the tension, and decides women only bring trouble unless they’re cooking. Grandma Hutto invites the family to stay with her for Christmas, but Jody says he can’t leave Flag. After Ora explains how attached he is to the fawn, Grandma Hutto says Jody can bring him. Grandma Hutto is worried about Oliver, and Jody is happy she’s angry with him for his running away with Twink. Penny warns Grandma Hutto about Lem’s temper, but she assures him that she can stand her ground against men.