Summary

Sabe introduces herself as a character in Chapter 7 by telling the reader "if you want to survive, you have to put money everywhere" (79). Melody's grandmother then goes on to describe the Tulsa race riot of 1921, in which Sabe’s mother, also named Melody, almost died at two years old. During this riot -- Sabe prefers to call it a massacre -- white residents of the city set fire to her family’s beauty shop. As a result of this event, Sabe promises that she will never set foot in Oklahoma. After the riot, Sabe's mother moved with her family to Chicago, where they were quite affluent. The event in Tulsa clearly struck Sabe, as she laments how the white residents "turned my people's lives and dreams to ash" (82). This is what taught Sabe to "hold onto what's yours" and hide money everywhere (82). Once...