Pigeon English

While they are in the launderette together with their Mamma, Lydia and Harri play a game where they have to call out which items of clothing they see passing by in the washers and dryers, with the rarer articles earning more points. They have to be mindful about being openly amused by the crude graffiti on the machines, since their mother would make them go use a different machine if she knew.

The narrative shifts quickly, since it is largely following Harri’s stream of consciousness. He speaks about his friend in the apartment complex, Altaf, a Somalian boy. Altaf is a quiet boy who likes superheroes and enjoys discussing super powers, inventions, and sharing his drawings with Harri, which Harri describes as "bo-styles" a term he uses whenever he finds something to be especially cool. 

The local news continues to bring up the story of the dead boy and the unsolved identity of his killer. Meanwhile, the Dell Farm Crew tries to take Harri to task, to see if he has the mettle to be part of the gang. They want him to break the glass of the school fire alarm in the middle of classes. When Harri reaches his fist to the glass, he is unable to make it crack, noting "I just didn't have the blood" (57) and he runs away for fear of being caught, acknowledging that this failed mission has surely made him an enemy of the Dell Farm Crew.

The narrative transitions to Harri's church, where the elderly Mr. Frimpong is singing. He passes out from the heat, which Harri attributes to God wishing him to no longer sing so loudly. In that day's sermon, Harri learns the meaning of the word "insight" as Pastor Taylor requests a prayer from the community that will enable the police proper insight into identifying the killer. The knowledge of this new word makes him think about other intelligent men he knows, like his science teacher, Mr. Tomlin, who can make a battery out of a lemon. 

Dean and Harri go to the local bar to scout out potential murder suspects, working off of Dean's detective knowledge from watching television. They try to narrow their pool based on Harri's indistinct memory of what he thinks he saw from his apartment balcony. The first "suspect" they speak to—"he lit a cigarette: another telltale sign!" (61)—encourages them to go home and stay out of trouble. After this failed attempt at an interview, Dean determines that they will only solve the case through surveillance and evidence rather than questioning. 

Back at school, the boys discuss what would be the best weapon to have. Answers range from an umbrella that is actually a poison gun, to an AK-47, to a crossbow. This conversation dovetails into Harri reflecting on the unwritten "rules" that govern the school that he has had to learn in the few months of being in England, in order to acclimate. For instance, "going around the puddle means you're a girl," or "the first one to answer the question loves the teacher" (64). Later that day, they are confronted and blockaded by X-Fire and the rest of the Dell Farm Crew, who take Dean's money, which fills Harri with anger to the point he wishes he could be a bomb and "knock them all down" (65). 

His thoughts transition back to Ghana and how he helped his father build the roof of his shop. He reflects on the pride he felt completing this task and pleasing his father in the process. His father also taught him how to properly cut bamboo, likening it to sawing someone’s leg cleanly in half.

Back in the England apartment, Miquita and Lydia are putting together their parrot costumes for the neighborhood carnival. When Lydia tries to slip out to go to the laundrette, Harri attempts to come with her, though she actively discourages him. He discreetly follows her, watching as she puts bleach into the machine with the bag of clothes she had been carrying. He notices boy’s clothing, but when he questions her about the bag’s contents, she deflects, and he can tell she is lying. X-Fire comes through and asks whether or not anyone saw Lydia with the bag, and then they hurry home.

Julius comes by the apartment to collect money from Harri’s mother. He remarks that she “always goes serious when she pays the money to Julius…her hands go proper fast like there’s dirt on the money and she doesn’t want to get it on her fingers” (76). Julius was responsible for bringing Harri, his mother, and Lydia to their new home, and Harri remembers how enthusiastic he was to name all of the pieces of furniture in the apartment when they first arrived. Harri does not fully understand why his mother pays Julius, but knows that Julius “is in love with Auntie Sonia,” and he is always slapping her behind and she “just lets him do it even when she nearly fell through the door. Grown-ups are stupid like that” (79).

A scene happens in the neighborhood when a tree is felled to the ground, attributed to the weather, and Harri watches the aftermath of it all with his pigeon. Harri wants to take care of any birds that might be in the nest of the tree. Later, back at school, the boys are drawing fake scars on themselves, and Harri considers how scars look better on white skin than on black skin. When they discuss how they earned their scars, Harri tells his school friends about the Ghanaian creature asasabonsam:“‘He’s kind of a vampire. He lives in the trees. He eats you if you go too far in the forest’” (84). After school, when he returns to the fallen tree, it is already being taken away, which Harri does not understand because he does not see how anyone can claim ownership over something from nature.

Later, when his family is having dinner at his Auntie Sonia’s, she drops a spoon on the floor, and Harri asks if it is because of her fingers. While Harri’s mother would rather not pursue the conversation, Aunt Sonia thinks the children should be more aware of things as they are. She explains that she removes her fingerprints by burning them and will do so until she feels safely settled in a new home. The conversation ends when Julius returns to the apartment, seemingly coming home from intimidating someone with his bat, the Persuader, and he reminds Harri to stay good as long as he possibly can.

The month ends with the pigeon’s inner monologue on the nature of the food chain, where he says, “I’m supposed to suck it up and pretend like it’s all OK, just the food chain asserting itself, me below you above me, just the rules of the game” (102). This moment transitions swiftly back to Harri in the classroom, where a discussion about volcanoes leads Harri to offer an explanation about hell, though no one in the room is religious or believes in something like hell existing. The school day closes with Poppy Morgan passing Harri note, asking one question: “Do you like me?” with the boxes Yes or No underneath, leaving Harri to check one and return it to her.