Summary

In “In Flux,” when Trelawny is nine, people start asking what he is. They also ask what language his mother is speaking (3). He does not understand what they mean until they ask why his mother talks “so funny” (3).

It is the 1980s in Florida. Trelawny lives in the Cutler Ridge neighborhood with his parents, Sanya and Topper, and his brother Delano. His cousin Cukie “moves from Kingston to Miami” one year (4). The only context Trelawny has for the question of what he is, is American (4). He was “born in the United States” after his parents left Jamaica (5). Until a project in his geography class, he did not think Jamaica was important. Sanya wished he had chosen to present on his home (6).

Topper comes to Trelawny’s class to present on career day. He is “a general contractor” (6). The students make fun of his...