Bessie Armstrong

Bessie is a pretty girl in Seth and Samona's class at school. When she talks to Seth, admiring him for having the nerve to go to Mrs. Fabiyi's house, he is flustered and unable to talk. Later, when she is preparing for the beauty competition, Samona becomes friends with Bessie. She tells Seth that Bessie's mother does not like noise, so she has to play quietly, and that there is no fun around her house, and they both pity her.

Mrs. Fabiyi

In the beginning of the book Seth and Samona fear Mrs. Fabiyi, a strange old Nigerian woman who lives on their block. The previous Halloween, she had thrown a pot of cold vegetable soup on them, and all of the children are afraid of the strange things she keeps in her house. Samona talks Seth into skipping his piano lesson and going to Mrs. Fabiyi's...