Summary

At dinner Isabel puts Sonny at his ease, even making him laugh. Sonny brings gifts for the narrator’s two boys. The narrator, on the other hand, feels uncomfortable, checking for signs of Sonny’s addiction. The narrator wants to believe that Sonny is safe. This thought leads him to remember his father saying that no place is safe for kids.

The narrator’s father spent his life looking for something a little better, but he never found it. Sonny and Daddy often fought because they were so much alike and Daddy was frightened for him. Daddy died when Sonny was fifteen.

The narrator remembers being a child, forgotten for a moment by the adults, listening to their stories of their past and what they’ve seen. Just after his Daddy dies, Mama tries to warn the narrator about life’s dangers. She tells him about...