Summary

In Chapter 2, Delores, Margot and Thandi are without electricity in their shack because fires started by the drought have damaged power lines. As Delores cooks, she tells Margot, who is braiding Thandi’s hair, their landlord has raised the rent again. Delores criticizes Margot, believing that she is not using all of the earnings from her hotel job for the family’s benefit.

When Thandi walks into her classes for the first time with straightened hair and a sweatshirt, the students stare and gossip. She wears the sweatshirt in order to create heat that Miss Ruby has told her will make her skin lighten more quickly. The prefect of Thandi’s class orders Thandi to take off her sweatshirt but Thandi refuses. She is given a demerit. As Thandi leaves the room to go to the principal’s office her classmates...