A Good Neighborhood

Valerie, Xavier’s mother, was distraught when construction began next door, and she is not excited to meet the Whitman family. She does not know how to relate to people who would cut down all those trees. They also put her 80-foot oak tree at risk in the process of building their new home and pool.

Valerie is working in her garden when Xavier tells her the Whitmans have moved in. Xavier works on clearing a spot for the Koi pond Valerie wants to install. She feels that taking care of the fish will help ease her loneliness when Xavier leaves for college. Xavier is a strong student who has focused on his studies and on practicing classical guitar, while avoiding distractions like dating. His thoughts center on Juniper as he works, but he tries to push those thoughts aside.

While he is working, Xavier sees Julia come outside and tell Juniper to put on sunscreen, threatening that Juniper will end up looking like her grandmother Lottie. Brad and Lily come out, and Xavier turns to go inside to fetch his mother to meet the neighbors. Before he can go far, he is stopped by Brad, who thinks Xavier is hired help. Brad asks if he can pay Xavier to carry and break down boxes, and Xavier introduces himself and says he is helping his mother. Brad introduces himself as Brad Whitman of Whitman HVAC, and he mentions that Xavier has probably seen his commercials. Xavier leaves to get his mother after confirming that there are several older women who live in the area, although his mother is not one of them.

Valerie loves Oak Knoll, and she had moved into her house with her husband, Tom, while she was pregnant with Xavier. The neighbors were shocked but polite about their interracial marriage. At the time, Oak Knoll was an economically diverse community consisting of low- and middle-class residents. The neighboring community, Hillside, was filled with wealthy families living in large mansions. Brad had wanted to move to Hillside because of the neighborhood’s prestige. However, he decided to purchase a house in Oak Knoll after the idea was promoted to him by his friend Jimmy. Jimmy said that the residents in Oak Knoll were aging and selling their properties. Brad decided to buy an Oak Knoll property, tear it down, and build a new house because he would end up with a bigger, nicer house than he would be able to afford if he bought in Hillside.

Valerie watches the neighbors from inside her house. Brad, whom she views as “a man-child with money,” (17) reminds her of racist white men she has met or dated in the past. Currently, she is in a long-distance relationship with Chris Johnson. He has been to the house and met Xavier twice. Valerie is hesitant to bring Chris further into her life because Xavier struggles to let go of things, and she does not want to put her son in a potentially stressful situation. She loves Xavier’s focus but worries his intensity will cause problems for him in the future.

Xavier tells Valerie that Brad thought he was a worker, and Valerie is unsurprised. She realizes that Brad is the “local celebrity” that her neighbor, Ellen, said was moving to the area. She goes with Xavier to meet the neighbors, and she examines the new construction and worries how it will affect her tree. The families exchange introductions and talk. Valerie complains about the noise the builders made, and she asks Brad to look at her air conditioning unit. The request amuses Xavier, who knows that the question is in retaliation for Brad’s earlier implicit racism toward Xavier.

Brad asks about Valerie’s marital status, and she says she is a widow. The families discuss Juniper’s enrollment at Blakely Academy and Xavier’s scholarship for studying classical guitar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Juniper wants to attend college for a natural science, but neither Julia nor Brad wants her to enroll. A group of workers arrives to build a fence around the pool, and Valerie worries about the root system of her tree. They talk a bit more, and then the Alston-Holt’s return home.

Valerie and Xavier exchange their opinions of Brad. Xavier thinks Brad is “fine,” but Valerie is uncertain. However, she worries that she has prejudged Brad, and she does not like the idea that she is capable of prejudice. She recognizes that she started judging the family as soon as the work crews started cutting down the trees next door.

Xavier argues that Valerie is judging the Whitmans on their actions, rather than for things they cannot control, which is how he was taught to assess people. He wants Valerie to show herself compassion for her feelings, but she remains disturbed by the strength of her prejudice. Xavier comforts her by saying the neighbors seem okay but that he hasn’t thought much about it. Secretly, he has been thinking about Juniper.