Summary

In Chapter 53, the barrel arrives for Tru. Kenny, Roy and Marva are in the room when she first sees it. They each look away from her and she approaches the barrel, "as though the decision to act or react is hers alone" (398). When she opens the barrel, there are excessively girlie accessories and items, like sparkly hair bows and gemstone earrings. Tru looks at Roy and Marva, bewildered, and they look away. Only Kenny meets her eyes, and "Tonight is the first time she experiences a side of rejection that Kenny has always known – Kenny, the son the father acknowledged but never saw" (399).

Chapter 54 begins with Patsy back at Claudette's apartment. She is awoken by the sound of pebbles against the window, and realizes that it is a hail storm. She feels that it is, "Some kind of omen, some kind of...