Summary

In "Families," after the storm passes, Daniel sees an armadillo amble through "Des's yard," then "back to the woods" (99). Daniel tells Desmond about his plan to talk to Brandon. Desmond thinks it is a bad idea, but offers to join.

Daniel remembers all of the high school teachers thinking he and Desmond were brothers because they were both Jamaicans. The friends never minded. They already treated "each other like family" (101). Listening to his mother's stories has made Daniel realize how many of his family members "don't share blood" (101). He thinks about how his mother and aunt raised their brother, Junior, his brother's namesake. Though they cared for him "they continued to beat each other" (103). Sometimes his mother thinks her brother Junior would not have died the way he did if she had been harder on him.

Driving with Desmond "feels just...