Summary

Chapter 16 details the robbery of the Agricultural National Bank. While Neeva waited outside in the car (because of her conspicuous, foreign appearance), Bev entered the bank and ordered everyone to lie face down on the ground while he commanded the bank teller to fill his bag with cash. Dell describes “this moment—the moment of proclamation, the gun revealed, the stagy commands of ‘don’t move or I’ll shoot’” as the point at which his father “felt the exhilaration to be finally doing what he’d so long wanted to do” (97). This feeling of euphoria instantly vanished as the bad consequences of his actions became evident. The bank’s vice president asked “Where are you from, son?” after detecting Bev’s Southern accent, which rendered him more noticeable as opposed to anonymous as he had hoped (98). A customer boldly challenged him...