Summary

In “Blessed Deliverance,” the narrator and his friends were used to seeing Headass around Bed-Stuy (3). He was so familiar, they “were bored with him” (3). In reality, they had not seen him for some time and had heard “he’d been framed for armed robbery” (4).

By senior year, the five friends did not care what had happened to Headass. They were busy thinking about other things. They particularly liked visiting the Botanic Garden or Prospect Park where they were most visible.

One afternoon in October, the friends took a walk after school. They stopped at a new storefront, curious about the business opening there. Inside, they saw rabbits “grouped inside of rickety makeshift cages” (6). Walidah, Roni, Antonio, Cherise, and the narrator made jokes. Then a white man named Cyan appeared, offering to introduce them to the rabbits. He called “someone named...