Chapter 4 Summary

One day as Annie was throwing stones at a guava tree to loosen a piece of fruit, the Red Girl came along, asked her which one she wanted and climbed the tree to retrieve it. Annie called her the Red Girl because she had seen her one day when each of them was out walking with their mothers. The girl had copper-colored hair twisted into tight little corkscrews that stood out straight from her head. It wasn't so much her hair that earned her this name but rather the fact that Annie could see her surrounded by flames: her house was on fire and she couldn't escape. In her mind, Annie rescued her and she would tolerate anything Annie said or did out of gratitude.

The Red Girl was dirty from head to toe. Her mother didn't insist on her hygiene so the...