JP is disoriented by his forced relocation from one home to another. His first house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, nurtures him for the first fourteen years of his life. Owned by his Grandma Mary, the cheerful yellow house is not only a shelter for JP and his parents but also inspires his creativity and intellect. JP plays games with his friends in the neighborhood or on the Saint Ignatius school's basketball court. He delights in the creek that flows nearby, where he can swim and fish, picnic, and observe animals and plants, or reflect on his purpose and ambitions. JP compares the creek to an "arm gathering and caressing our tired homes" and declares it a "paradise." Sometimes, though, the creek poses dangers, such as when JP found his father soaking wet after teenagers tricked him into submerging himself by saying it was a baptism.

Grandma Mary kept the...