Summary

The first chapter in this section is told from the point of view of Brick. Brick lived in a small rented room five blocks from the Salvation Army center. When he got too old to be passed off as a child and could no longer earn money for Paul and Lisa they abandoned him at a diner. A waitress there kept him for a few weeks. When she called child services he moved on to help out an old army veteran. The man was blind and could not tell that Brick was black by his voice. Brick helped the man until he grew tired of his comments about “spooks” (195).

Brick then lived for a while with a woman who taught him how to play the piano. When her children found out Brick was staying with their mother they accused him of...