Summary

The Preface is a quote from “Luck,” by black American poet Langston Hughes. “Sometimes a crumb falls from the table of joy / Sometimes a bone is flung. / To some people love is given, / to others only heaven” (3)

The Prologue begins with a description of “Ermina, Ernestina, and Godfrey Crump sit[ting] on a bench with their heads slightly bowed” (7). There are physical descriptions of all three characters, with the text emphasizing that Ernestine is slightly plump while Ermina is slender, and both have their hair in “mismatched pigtails” (7). Godfrey is described as being slender and good-looking, his “appearance … always neat and well assembled” (7)

Ernestine speaks in poetic language about how grief made them both howl in pain and laugh in happiness at memories of “Mommy” (7). She describes other ways that death affected the family, and how it eventually led them to move...