Summary

It is from Brick’s point of view that the first chapter in this section is narrated. Two nights after his encounter with the police at Laronne’s, Brick was on a bus headed to Kansas City. He planned to go to the girl who had survived the accident and tell her the story her father had told him to tell her.

He was sleeping in an old boxing gym when he had a nightmare that made him cry out. A woman and man who were sleeping there as well were awakened by his scream. The man threatened to make Brick pay them rent for the space but when they learned he could play the harmonica they decided he could help them make money. They called him a “monkey” and refer to him as “it” (144). They gave Brick a pill to...