Summary

In the Prologue, N. K. Jemisin's unnamed narrator meets Sao Paulo at a coffee shop. The narrator agreed to go because he is hungry and Sao Paulo will buy his food. He is hyper aware that the white patrons are uncomfortable that he is black. He tells the narrator that "cities are like any other living things, being born and maturing and wearying and dying in their turn" (7). The narrator does not dismiss Sao Paulo's mentorship. He knows that the city will come alive and the Enemy is lying in wait. When the narrator sees two cops eye him, the narrator runs. As a young black man, he knows to avoid the police. These cops feel different to him. They are a super cop, "harbingers of the Enemy'' (13). He fights the Enemy with traffic from the LIRR and the weight of the...