Summary

Chapter 11. The year is 1925 and Richard arrives in Memphis. He finds Beale Street which is supposedly a place full of danger, but he finds a boarding house run by a Mrs. Moss who is

friendly and welcoming. She immediately likes Richard and soon makes it very clear that she thinks he would be a good husband for her 17 year old daughter, Bess. Richard likes Bess, but he is aghast that both she and her mother are so naive they would trust him implicitly after having just met him, and knowing little about him. Richard entertains the idea of getting involved with Bess, since it’s clear she is more than willing to be intimate, but in the end he knows it wouldn’t work, and that he does not want a relationship with her. Both Bess and her mother are hurt and upset, but when...