Meanwhile, Richie presses Jojo to ask Pop to finish telling Richie’s story. Leonie goes to speak to her mother, who begs her to help summon the spirit that will take her to the next life. The family therefore returns to Leonie’s parents’ home, where Pop tells his daughter that Mam’s death is imminent. Leonie reluctantly agrees, but the situation quickly devolves into violence Michael’s racist father (Big Joseph) insults Leonie and the children, and he and his son begin fighting. Back in Bois Sauvage, Michael proposes dropping the children off at his parents’ home. After a tense encounter during which the policeman draws his gun on Jojo, they continue on their way, Michael using charcoal to make Leonie throw up the drugs.

The group heads back to Bois Sauvage carrying a bag of meth, which Leonie is forced to swallow whole when they’re pulled over by the police. Then, when the family returns to the car, Richie’s spirit appears outside Jojo’s door: He has been trapped at Parchman since his death and hopes that by learning what happened to him from Pop, he will finally be able to move on to the afterlife. Meanwhile, Kayla draws Jojo’s attention to a flock of “birds” in the prison fields, and Jojo has a brief vision of men picking cotton. At Parchman the following day, Leonie and Michael share a passionate reunion. They stay the night with Michael’s lawyer, where Leonie attempts to make an herbal remedy for Kayla before disappearing to get high with Misty and the lawyer, Al. On their way, they stop to pick up a bag of meth from a friend of Misty’s, and then to tend to Kayla, who has developed a fever and is throwing up. Leonie, Jojo, and Jojo’s toddler sister Kayla drive north to Parchman Misty, whose boyfriend is an inmate there, also joins them. While high, she sees the ghost of her dead brother Given, who was killed as a teenager by Michael’s cousin in a racially-motivated murder. After the birthday celebrations are over, Leonie goes to her friend Misty’s house to snort cocaine. As the family gathers for cake, Leonie learns her boyfriend Michael-Jojo’s father-is being released from Parchman after three years’ imprisonment Jojo’s grandfather (Pop) also served time in Parchman as a teenager and has told Jojo stories about his friendship with a 12-year-old inmate named Richie. The day is subdued: Jojo’s grandmother (Mam) is dying of cancer, and his mother ( Leonie) is addicted to drugs. In the fictional southern Mississippi town of Bois Sauvage, a biracial boy named Jojo celebrates his 13th birthday.

Ward sing unburied sing