Summary

In first-person narration that moves back and forth between past and present tense, Clementine considers how people call her Tish instead of by her true name; how people call the man she loves Fonny instead of Alonzo; and how hard it is to visit him in jail, where they can only talk by telephone and she has to remind herself to look up at him. On this visit, which narration suggests is one of many, she worries about Fonny’s reaction when she says what she has come to say: that she is going to have a baby. At first, she comments in narration, he seems uneasy, but when she makes a joke, he laughs and seems to become happier. The visit ends quickly, and Tish leaves, walking through wide corridors that she likens, in narration...