Summary

In Chapter 1, Nicole Dennis-Benn's narrator, Patsy, goes through the anxiety-ridden process of interviewing for a United States visa. She intersperses her present-day account of the ordeal with memories of why she is applying for the visa. The chapter begins with Patsy sneaking out of the house early in the morning to go to the U.S. Embassy, leaving her daughter, Tru, sleeping in bed.

Patsy rehearses the partial truths she is going to tell at the Embassy, wondering if she will be punished for telling lies. She reasons that it is for the good of her family. She knows this is true, which brings her to think about the origin of her daughter's nickname, Tru. Her full name is Trudy-Ann, but during a time when a "dark, heavy thing" that her mother, Mama G, calls "the Devil's cold" (18) was upon her, Patsy...