Summary

LaJoe and Rochelle hire a gypsy cab to take them grocery shopping. The cab companies will not drive into the projects because of the danger there. The two women bring back an unbelievable amount of food, enough to feed thirteen people living in LaJoe's apartment. Added to her $921 in aid are LaShawn's food stamps. The list of groceries is usually the same, and LaJoe always comes close to the amount of money she has to spend. When they arrive home, all the younger children race outside to help bring in the groceries and put them away. This day, Pharoah is nowhere to be found, an oddity, since he has always loved grocery day.

Pharoah is at Damen Courts, a condominium complex two block away from Horner. It has manicured lawns and graffiti-free walls. It looks elegant and proper and Pharoah retreats there often now that he has discovered it. He lies on the grass carpet and uses it as a quiet resting place. Here he finds respite, and he doesn't want anyone to know about his hiding place. Adding to his discovery is the relative quiet that descends on Horner since Jimmie Lee's arrest and the arrests of several of the other gang leaders. As a result, Pharoah's stutter becomes less noticeable. Some of his other distractions include: the outdoor swimming pool in Union Park, the Boys Club, and Red, the man who brings the children little gifts on his tricycle. He also badgers Lafeyette to take him back to the tracks, but his brother still refuses. So Pharoah spends more time at Damen Courts. At first, when his mother asks where he's been, he lies, something it's hard for him to do to his mother. Eventually, however, he tells her about his discovery where his mind is cleared of everything.

Notes

The visit to the grocery store and Damen Courts are symbolic of the pleasure that the Rivers family finds in simple luxuries. Food is a luxury to them, because they are so dependent on welfare, and they know what it's like not to have those funds. In addition, the grass at Damen Commons is a respite for Pharoah from the ugliness of Horner.

FALL 1988 - WINTER 1989

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Summary

Lafeyette becomes closer to Rickey in the intervening months, but it is a nervous time, because Rickey is in so much trouble, He is involved in smash and grabs, where he and his friends smash the windows of cars and grab anything of value they can. He is also caught in a stolen car and is sent to a special school for troubled boys. Pharoah is too young and impressionable for the crowd Rickey runs with, but Lafeyette is torn about his friendship with the boy, because he can hold his own among these rougher, faster kids.

Two weeks before Christmas, the boys go out window-shopping and end up in a videocassette store. Pharoah wanders through the stacks until he finds the wrestling tapes, which he loves, while Lafeyette and Rickey end up in the New Releases section. Rickey suggests they take some of the tapes. Pharoah overhears the conversation and begs Lafeyette to go home. The older boy tells Pharoah to go on, but he's staying. Then, after the younger boys leave, Rickey tucks a tape under his coat, and Lafeyette follows suit. The assistant manager has been watching them, and he stops them from leaving the store. He calls the police, but then, he decides not to press charges. LaJoe hears about it from a neighbor's daughter and hopes that the incident will impress upon Lafeyette the importance of staying out of trouble. She makes him stay in the house for a week and a half, but Lafeyette doesn't seem to mind, because he knows what he did was wrong. She places even more responsibility on his shoulders by naming him the beneficiary of her life insurance policy, explaining how he should use the money to raise the younger kids, and how she wants to be buried. All this talk of death upsets Pharoah, because he worries that Lafeyette won't provide for him as well as his mother does. The shoplifting incident also unsettles Pharoah, and he begins to distance himself from Rickey. He decides, like his brother, that he has no friends, only associates, because they will turn you down for anything.

Notes

This chapter helps to reinforce the idea of how the characters of Lafeyette and Pharoah are changing as they grow older. Lafeyette is more susceptible to the influences of older kids like Rickey, while Pharoah is more alert and prudent. Lafeyette is willing to take chances, but Pharoah never wants to get into any trouble.