Summary

Sandy tells the girls her version of the story of meeting their father. Having just graduated from a private high school, she often met to talk with her own father (a university professor) about her future. One night, while her father sat in a café talking with a few of his students about their projects, Sandy waited quietly, reading Camus’ diary. One of the students (Deck), who had been ignoring her all evening, asked her a question that she later realized was a direct quote from the book she was reading.

Back in the present time, the girls’ mother decides they will go to a public school, rather than the private, Afrocentric one their father chose in Roxbury. They are initially assigned to two different districts: Cole to a south Boston Irish school and Birdie to a mostly black school. Their mother flatly refuses this decision...