Summary

In Chapter 25, “Miriam, 1968,” when Miriam returned home one day, Hazel was “sitting in the dark, not looking at anything” (189). She told Miriam she had seen “the bodies” (189). Miriam knew she was talking about “the sanitation workers” who had been killed (190). Hazel was involved in the civil rights movement, hosting gatherings at the house. Not long later, when Miriam learned that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated, she comforted Hazel, using the words Myron had once used to comfort her.

In Chapter 26, “Joan, 2001,” while watching Jax and Bird, Joan had difficulty registering “what [she] was seeing” (195). She did not respond when Jax greeted her. Jax launched into their story from the day of the attack. Miriam lit a cigarette and “exhaled a plume of smoke” in Jax’s face (198). While Joan listened to Jax’s story, she felt her anger...