Summary

Chapter 12 returns to the more disjointed, episodic structure of Chapter 1. It covers the period of time during the summer of the girls' thirteenth year, when a neighborhood park became the location for a nightly block party and August began to become more sexually adventurous with her boyfriend Jerome, who was four years older than her. Because of the example of Charlesetta, August was aware of the ramifications of having children because of the young, single mothers she saw around her neighborhood, and she refused to have intercourse with Jerome.

By December, her father and brother had grown deeper in their new faith, leaving August to herself, and Angela's mother went missing. Angela's mother was discovered dead on the roof of a nearby building, and August came to the realization that the woman who had stumbled down the street earlier in the book was Angela's...