CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Summary

Lafeyette's hearing at last arrives. The boys on trial for vandalizing the Toyota are all from the same neighborhood, but hang out with different crowds. Their public defender is Anne Rhodes, a tough, hard-boiled, almost curt attorney. She is overworked and tired of what she sees each day, but she is also very perceptive when it comes to the behavior of the kids in the projects. They are still just children to her. She comes to believe that most of the five boys are innocent and that only one boy can really be guilty. However, she is forced to defend them as a group, and so what happens to one will happen to them all. The man who owns the car only wants restitution for the damages, but all the families turn down this offer, because no one has the money. She finally believes that they have a good chance to get the boys out of trouble. The owner testifies and a police officer testifies. Then, Anne tells the judge that there is no eyewitness testimony to the crime and the evidence is purely circumstantial. In addition, this is a first offense for all five boys. However, the judge surprises her and finds them guilty. They will be sentenced on October 18. At first, Lafeyette is relieved that it's over, but then he is angry: angry at Derrick for not confessing, angry that he didn't have a chance to tell his own story, and angry that no one seems to believe him. Now he has a record, and he didn't commit any crime. When they arrive home, he goes straight to his room where Pharoah finds him later. As LaJoe sits on the couch, braiding one of the girl's hair, she hears the two boys begin to argue over a tee-shirt. As she walks back to break up the fight, she can't help but think that she still has them both. She never thought it could be such a comfort to hear her sons arguing.

Notes

Once again, because of circumstances beyond his control, an innocent black youth - Lafeytte - ends up with a record for something he didn't do. Nonetheless, LaJoe is happy she still has him with her.

EPILOGUE

Summary

Lafeyette receives probation and 100 hours of community service. He works after school with children at the Boy's Club. The author helps get both boys into a private school. Pharoah is thriving there although his daydreaming and forgetfulness sometimes get him in trouble. Through his accomplishments at school, he is awarded a six-week scholarship to a summer camp in Indiana. Lafeyette, however, finds the private school more of a struggle and leaves within two months. He finds himself lured again into the neighborhood, so LaJoe keeps a close eye on him. He graduates from eighth grade and it is one of few times he seems happy and at ease. He plans to enter a parochial school the next year, because it has a program that offers special assistance to children with learning problems.

Rickey has begun running drugs for one of the local gangs and the police catch him with a long butcher knife. Lafeyette doesn't hang out with him anymore. Both Pharoah and Lafeyette still talk about moving to a safer and quieter neighborhood. LaJoe, for two months, seems to have found a way. She contracts with a man named Robert Curry who tells her that for $80, he can get her at the top of a waiting list for subsidized housing. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a scam, and Curry is arrested. It makes LaJoe feel humiliated and depressed, but she plans to testify against him.

CHA finally cleans up the basements and several problems are fixed in the Rivers' apartment. What's more important, Vincent Lane raids and reclaims all eight Horner buildings from the gangs. There is new playground equipment, new paint, and plants awash in color in the spring. Dawn and Demetrius finally get an apartment in another housing complex, but Dawn gets pregnant with their fifth child, and she is still looking for permanent work. Terence is expected to get out of prison in 1991. He has earned his GED, and he still writes faithfully to his family. Paul, their father, finds a part-time job with a moving company and gives a little money to LaJoe for the children.

Notes

Although the fears and problems the Rivers family faces are not completely gone, they are, at least at the end of this narrative, much improved. There is a sense of hope that their greatest desires will eventually come true.