Chapter 4 Summary

Kiswana Browne lives in a sixth-floor studio apartment in Brewster Place. From her window, she can see the busy avenue just north and watches the people. A pigeon flies by and she places her dreams on its back, watching it glide in the air until it lands awkwardly on the fire escape on the opposite building. This brings her back to earth, but only for a moment. Her imagination takes off again as she creates a fantasy from what she imagines as pigeon droppings on the fire escapes and people slipping and falling from them trying to escape a fire. She has her hand in creating banners for their imagined march on the mayor's office in protest.

She comes back to reality this time with the hard realization that her mother is crossing the street heading for her apartment building. She is relieved...