Part 1: The Body, Chapters 6, 7 and 8 Summary

Fifteen-year-old Jinx Fairchild and his seventeen-year-old brother, Sugar Baby, enjoy jumping and swimming in Peach Tree Creek near the Lowertown section of Hammond. On this particular day, the Fairchild brothers perform their swimming and diving gymnastics for the benefit of Iris Courtney and her friend, Nancy Dorsey, who are also swimming nearby. Iris knows that Jinx and Sugar Baby live in the "good" section of black Lowertown, not far from where the Courtney family now lives.

Iris also knows that both Fairchild brothers are good basketball players and that Jinx has real athletic potential to go far in the sport. Typically, this situation of white girls and Negro boys enjoying themselves in the same area would not be allowed to continue, but Iris loves the thrill of being inappropriate and cannot help but be drawn...