How It Went Down

Rosalita assesses the vigil taking place, noting how the women cry like birds. She is too old for tears, however, as she’s seen it all and believes that life is a circle of birth, life, and death. But bullets and shootings are unnatural, and so she believes that the women have a right to cry when death happens like this. She attempts to comfort the mourners, many of whom are young girls who have no idea that vigil means “to wait” and that she has had a lifetime of waiting (Rosalita is 94). She walks with the others and sees where Tariq died. Though they’ve washed away the blood, the stain is still visible. For once in her life, Rosalita feels like she’s seen too much. Melody walks with Rosalita during the vigil. Melody cries as she remembers that her first kiss was with Tariq. They knew each other for most of their lives, and she recalls how warm his lips were when they kissed, and how much of a gentleman he was when he kissed her.

Will hangs with his friends and gets made fun of for having a rich stepfather. He wonders if his friends really hold it against him. When he leaves to make it home in time for dinner, he realizes he’s on Peach Street. He gets caught up in the vigil and the singing, and he wishes to remain in this comradery forever. Meanwhile, Kimberly has to wade through the vigil to get to work. She doesn’t want to be a part of it and has nothing good to say about Tariq. She notes that hanging out with Brick and the Kings is asking for trouble. She is worried, however, about Tina. People often forget about siblings, or the children, when death happens, and Kimberly thinks back to when her father died and how alone she felt. At the same time, Tariq’s family walks down the street. Tina notes how everybody cries and sings for her brother, but she believes that no one loved him as much as she did.

Reverend Sloan is getting his makeup done by Kimberly. He looks at her and feels himself being tempted by her beauty, but he tries to remain professional. He flew down to be a part of the Tariq incident so that his campaign numbers will increase. He and Kimberly exchange dialogue and there’s a hint of attraction on both their parts. Sloan admits that what happened to Tariq frustrates him and makes him sad, especially as his killer has been set free, but he has to keep his feelings inside. In his words, “How you really are isn’t important if you can pretend to be a person who pleases people” (73). He tries to get information from Kimberly about who Tariq was but gets nothing through gentle inquiry. He thanks her, and then goes to make a speech about Tariq’s death.

Kimberly tells Reverend Sloan that she didn’t know Tariq well, but in reality she hated him. Tariq and the Kings made fun of her figure all the time while in school. First, Brick would make fun of her, and when he ran out of things to say, Tariq would come up with new ways of harassing her. Then Brick stopped when he took over the Kings, but Tariq and the others continued until he finally started ignoring her. Kimberly also used to babysit Tina. Kimberly isn’t too sad that Tariq is dead, however, especially because it brought her into contact with Sloan. She’s ecstatic at being so close to a celebrity, and she likes how he touches her and looks at her as a human being. She kisses him before he leaves for his speech.

Tom Arlen has lived in Underhill for twenty years and has never seen it on the national news. He thinks the media is skewed, however, because he’s seen so many deaths before where it was black-on-black crime and no one bats an eye. Because Jack Franklin is white, Tom thinks that people are trying to paint him as a racist, but Tom believes that it was just self-defense. He then notes Reverend Sloan making a speech and is annoyed at politicians always inserting themselves into the limelight. Sloan mentions something about a Snickers bar being mistaken for a gun, but Tom Arlen insists that he saw Tariq with a real gun.

Junior hears about a shooting in Underhill while in jail. Everyone expects him to weigh in because it’s his neighborhood, but Junior doesn’t want much to do with Underhill. He admits that once you’re a King you’re always a King, but that doesn’t help him much while serving a life sentence in jail. He finally looks at the news and realizes that it’s Tariq Johnson that has been shot and is suddenly interested.

Meanwhile, Steve Conners waits for Will, who finally arrives home forty-five minutes late. He finds out that he’s been at the vigil; Steve is upset, though Will says that he is from Underhill and is safe there. They argue a bit, until Will says that neither he nor Steve are any better than Tariq Johnson.

Reverend Sloan prays for forgiveness in the quiet of his hotel room. He feels guilty for praying for an event to come about that might help him in the polls. Further, he feels like he prayed for Tariq’s death, and being amongst the hurting, angry people and making a speech has unhinged something in him. Tariq becomes more than just a statistic on a paper, and the fact that Sloan will benefit in the polls regardless of what happens to Franklin causes him extreme guilt.

Meanwhile, Sammy is working a drug route for the Kings as he listens to the singing from the vigil. He explains how he usually rakes in a lot of money, but lately there’s been fewer customers, perhaps due to the Tariq incident. Though he’s sad that Tariq is dead, Sammy realizes that life in Underhill will go on and people will begin forgetting about the injustice of Tariq’s death. Though life has to go on, Sammy won’t forget. He and Tariq were close since childhood. In fact, he, Junior, Tyrell, and Tariq were best friends when they were younger. It angers Sammy that Jack Franklin is walking the streets thinking he’s safe and in the right.

Edwin “Rocky” Fry walks past all the flowers left during the vigil and notes how he was the one who wrapped most of the flowers a few days ago in his shop. He sells things, but tries not to think about what happens to them later. He preps for the day and brings in the newspapers, reading the headlines. There are conflicting accounts about Tariq. Rocky wonders what might have happened had he not called after Tariq, if he’d just left the money in the store until his mother returned for it. Some reports say that Tariq had a gun. Rocky almost wants this to be true, because the alternative would be that Tariq simply had a Snickers bar, a candy bar he bought from Rocky. Meanwhile, Brick thinks about the fact that some people believe there was no gun when he was standing close to Tariq and saw one. Brick wonders where the gun is now, and he realizes that one of his crew must have taken the gun after Tariq was shot. He’s mad at whomever took it because it was a nice gun, and he determines to find out who pocketed the gun.

Will has his hoodies taken away by his mother and Steve. She doesn’t want him looking like Tariq and is worried for Will’s safety. Will is angry because his mother doesn’t understand. He has to fit in in Underhill or people will make fun of him, or worse. And he has to fit in at school and look preppy, get his work done, and then travel to Underhill to maintain his old life with his old friends. He borrows an old hoodie from a guy from school. Though he loves his mother, Will also knows that fitting in on the streets is about survival.

The chapter then shifts to Tyrell, who is recalling how he was once mad at Tariq for getting the nickname “T.” Everyone in their group went by their first initial, but Tariq got “T” before Tyrell could, and so everyone just called him Tyrell. He punched Tariq in the nose because he was so angry, but Tariq just told him that he’s bigger than one letter and began calling him Ty. Then everyone else started calling him Ty as well. Though life changed and everyone went back to their old names—Sammy, Junior, etc.—Tariq remained T and Tyrell remained Ty.

Tina notes how different everything around her is. The phone constantly rings, and her mother eventually rips it out of the wall and throws it against the wall. She is allowed to eat whatever she wants, and Tariq’s bedroom door is always closed now. Reverend Sloan makes a housecall and notices the broken phone. Vernesha admits that it’s hard to find peace. Though Sloan says that it’s good to “get out in front of it” (100), he is still hesitant about Vernesha speaking to the public. But Vernesha wants to speak, and he also knows that this will help with the image of Tariq, as well as help his image when he’s standing next to Vernesha. Tina interrupts, and the chapter shifts to Redeema’s point-of-view. Redeema is supposed to be watching Tina, but she wants to know what’s being said about Tariq on television, as it’s better to know what one is up against rather than let it blindside you.

Tom Arlen opens his door to find Jack Franklin standing there. Tom ushers Jack in and hears his story. Jack was arrested but released, with no pending charges. He even got his gun back. Tom is amazed, as he’s never known a gunman to walk like this in his twenty years in Underhill. Tom vouched for Jack, and now Jack asks if he can stay at Tom’s place because reporters are camped out at Jack’s house. Tom and Jack know that the streets are not safe for him right now, especially with the Kings being in the mix. Tom agrees to let Jack stay until things blow over.

Jennica is at work when a reporter and cameraman come in and ask her questions. They pay her to speak to them, and though she doesn’t want to, she realizes that she’s about to make more than she makes for her shift and so agrees to talk with the woman. They ask her about the incident and she tries to answer without telling them Noodle’s name. She also says her name is Jen. They ask if she thinks something should happen to Jack Franklin, but she doesn’t answer that either. They eventually leave, and Jennica wonders if it was wrong for her to talk to them. The regular customer, Heathcliff, tells her that what happened to Tariq was wrong, and that she must simply do what she can now to deal with the fallout.

Kimberly weighs her actions. She can’t believe that she kissed Reverend Sloan, and she watches him with fondness as he gives a speech on television. It seems that he was flustered from the kiss because he left his briefcase behind. Now she must get it to him and try not to make a fool of herself this time. Meanwhile, Tina thinks about all the things that can never happen again due to change, things that include not eating Snickers again, her mother never smiling again, and never going to Rocky’s store again.