CHAPTER TWENTY

Summary

On Thursday, March 1, winter is unleashing some of its final fury. However, that doesn't keep Craig Davis inside. He doesn't know about the ugly forces that are about to intersect and affect him so profoundly. He leaves his job at Order from Horder, a stationary store where he has greatly impressed the manager with his work ethic, and heads for his girlfriend's apartment at Horner. Then, he goes to the ABLA homes where he lives with his uncle in a two-story row house. He listens to his music for a little bit and then leaves for a friend's home to pick up two turntables and a speaker for the next night's dance.

As Craig is leaving ABLA, Francis Higgins and Richard Marianos, two plain-clothes cops, are cruising the streets of ABLA in an unmarked sedan. They are looking this night for someone they know only as Craig, who they have heard has purchased a sawed-off shotgun. They are ATF officers and their job is to confiscate illegal firearms. They see three boys, including Craig Davis, on their way to pick up the stereo equipment. It's unclear why they find these boys suspicious, but Craig, who had been falsely arrested five months earlier for allegedly stealing cookies from a delivery truck, is wary of the street cops. He says he isn't going back to jail again, especially since he just happened to be at the house recording music when the police stumbled on the stolen cookies.

Craig hadn't done anything wrong. Now, he takes off running. Marianos gives chase and eventually catches up to him just as he is going toward his uncle's house. Marianos grabs him and puts him up against the wall with his .357 magnum against Craig's head. Then, as Craig twists in his grip, Marianos falls backwards on the ice, and the gun discharges. The story is later found suspicious. Craig's uncle thinks nothing of the sound, which is commonplace in his neighborhood, until ten minutes later when it appears obvious that something has happened outside his apartment. He opens his door to find Craig face down in a pool of blood. Police are stringing yellow tape from tree to tree, and angry spectators are lining up to hurl insults at them. Craig's mother hears the news and rushes to Mt. Sinai hospital where Craig is pronounced dead at 8:48 PM. To add insult to what has happened here, the police put out a statement that Craig is a member of the Black Disciples and a suspected gunrunner.

Notes

Only one subject could fill this chapter: the tragic loss of Craig Davis. It's a sad example of how hope in the projects often ends only in hopelessness and despair.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Summary

On Friday, March 1, the day of the spelling bee, Pharaoh dresses in his best, and when he arrives at school, Clarise can't believe her eyes at how natty he looks. He appears surprisingly calm, but underneath he is nervous. Their teacher, Mr. Rogers, has promised them a party if either of them wins. And so the competition begins. As the contest progresses, Pharoah feels more and more confident. There are few stutters as he spells his words. Finally, it comes down to three students left in the contest: Pharoah, Clarise, and a boy named William. William is tripped up by the word amendment, which Pharoah spells correctly. Now he is assured of at least a second place. However, it is between him and his friend, Clarise, and neither wants the other to lose. They both misspell cellblock, and so there is only one more word to go. If they both misspell that one, the competition will be declared a tie. The last word is darken, and Pharoah spells it wrong. Clarise spells it right and wins the spelling bee. Pharoah is happy, because his friend has won, and he has fulfilled what he promised to do the year before.

He alternately runs and skips home, anxious to show his red ribbon. However, when he pushes open the door, everything is eerily quiet. Lafeyette is perched by the window with his arms around his bent knees. LaJoe sits at the kitchen table with Rochelle talking almost in a whisper. He enters with a big smile on his face, but his stutter returns as he tells his mother about the bee in the midst of the strange silence of his home. He finally realizes that something is terribly wrong, and that's when he learns that Craig Davis is dead. No one cares about his winning the contest, so Pharaoh slips out to play at Porkchop's apartment. He says he doesn't like to see anybody sad. Lafeyette however holds his position by the window and only speaks once: he doesn't understand how Craig could have died so violently when he had lived such a good life.

Craig's funeral is held at the A. R. Leak Funeral Home, one of the city's oldest and most prestigious. The crowd is huge and Craig‘s body is dressed in a navy blue suit with a light blue shirt and tie. He even has a slight smile on his face. Lafeyette comes with LaJoe who knows how much Craig had meant to her son, but Pharoah chooses not to come. He doesn't say why, but it is no doubt because he doesn't want to be among all the crying. The funeral service is unusually quiet, but what's more, the quiet extends to the investigation of the shooting. There has been no explanation, no apology, and the ATF continues to spread the story that Craig was in the Disciples. The police can produce no evidence that he was a gunrunner and everyone who knew him knows this story is absolutely false. In the end, the ATF rules it an accidental homicide. Even though many prominent people in the black community urge the residents to go to the police with the truth, they instead turn inward, afraid to become involved. What's more, the major newspapers ignore the incident, so the story just drifts away.

LaJoe believes that Craig's death is what breaks Lafeyette. From that day on, he just thinks about how he could be killed or go to jail for something he didn't do. He falls into a deep depression, and he no longer looks thirteen, but much older. Then, only two days after Craig's funeral, Lafeyette loses yet another friend, Damien Russell. Everyone called the boy Scooter, and he and some friends are tooling around in a stolen Oldsmobile on March 12. They run into a police car, which makes a U-turn and follows the boys. Suddenly, the driver of the car speeds up and begins to drive dangerously. The car hits a pole smack in the middle where the passenger doors meet. No one is wearing a seat belt. Scooter dies of massive internal injuries. When Lafeyette hears the news, he tells his mother not to talk about Scooter. He says that the death train has gotten him, and they should let him rest. He tells her that he never wants to attend another funeral.

Notes

Once again, the chapter creates a stark contrast in the lives of the Rivers boys. Pharaoh finally has his day of glory and comes in second in the spelling bee. However, he isn't given any time to enjoy the news with his family, because they have just heard about Craig Davis' death. This is soon followed by Scooter Russell's death, and they are all overwhelmed by the unspeakable tragedy that has befallen them yet again.