In the chap­ter titled “Three: Joe” from *The Berry Pick­ers*, the nar­ra­tive fol­lows Joe, a fifty-six-year-old man bur­dened by ill­ness, as he jour­neys to a doc­tor’s appoint­ment with his moth­er, Mae. The road is a metaphor for both phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al tur­moil; the pot­holes reflect Joe’s pain and the jour­ney of grap­pling with fam­i­ly grief. Despite feel­ing that he should be at home, he obeys his aging moth­er who insists he join her for a day out, cul­mi­nat­ing in an all-day break­fast that brings a momen­tary respite.

Joe’s fam­i­ly is haunt­ed by the mys­tery of his miss­ing sis­ter, Ruthie. He and Mae express dis­be­lief at the final­i­ty of death, as Ruthie’s absence col­ors their dai­ly lives. They remem­ber past sea­sons spent har­vest­ing fruit with apple pick­ers, whose live­ly pres­ence con­trast­ed with the empti­ness left by Ruthie’s dis­ap­pear­ance. As the sea­sons change, the fam­i­ly’s dynam­ics shift, par­tic­u­lar­ly when their moth­er becomes qui­et, retreat­ing into her own thoughts, sug­gest­ing a deep, unhealed wound.

The house­hold adjusts roles; Mae becomes nur­tur­ing, tak­ing over respon­si­bil­i­ties for Joe and their moth­er. In their domes­tic life, the act of dai­ly sur­vival jux­ta­pos­es the back­drop of greater loss. The chap­ter pro­vides vivid imagery of their inter­ac­tions, fraught with reminders of Ruthie, while also show­cas­ing the every­day real­i­ties of ill­ness and famil­ial duty.

Dad’s unyield­ing atti­tude towards poten­tial suit­ors for his chil­dren show­cas­es his fierce pro­tec­tion against out­siders, par­tic­u­lar­ly after a con­fronta­tion with a man named Mr. Hugh­es. He defends his fam­i­ly’s auton­o­my and resists author­i­ty fig­ures who threat­en to take his chil­dren away. This is marked by the event of Joe’s child­hood when they play at hid­ing in the woods to avoid men who rep­re­sent loss and con­trol.

As Joe recalls these mem­o­ries, lay­ers of child­hood inno­cence and the harsh real­i­ty of their fam­i­ly plight coex­ist. He yearns for recog­ni­tion and belong­ing, feel­ing over­shad­owed by his par­ents’ his­to­ry and actions. The chap­ter inter­twines moments of warmth and humor with lay­ers of grief and loss, illus­trat­ing how fam­i­ly ties shape iden­ti­ty amidst ongo­ing strug­gles. These themes of sur­vival, mem­o­ry, and the search for hope res­onate through­out Joe’s expe­ri­ence, inti­mate­ly con­nect­ing the past with the present.