The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

In the past, as Laronne packs the contents of Nella’s apartment, she finds Nella’s 29 journals, which reveal Nella’s fears and commitment to sobriety. As Laronne leaves the apartment, she sees a boy sitting on the stairs playing a harmonica—Brick. He tells Laronne that he was not friends with Nella’s children. Laronne asks Brick if he saw a man on the rooftop the day Nella and her children jumped off the roof. He is non-committal, so Laronne offers him home cooking and her address in case he wants to share anything he knows.

Later, at the hospital, Laronne claims to be Rachel’s aunt and visits her. The nurses tell her that Rachel’s father yelled at a nurse while drunk, was told to leave, and never returned. The nurses tell Laronne that Rachel’s grandmother is coming from Portland to look after Rachel from now on. Laronne leaves presents for Rachel and two boxes of Rachel’s belongings.

In the present, in Portland, Rachel and Grandma wait for Drew to arrive for Sunday dinner. Grandma has cooked a delicious meal, and she appears happier. Rachel reflects on how little she knows about her grandmother and how much her grandmother has changed since the death of Aunt Loretta. Drew arrives with his daughter Lakeisha, who is visiting from North Carolina for the Christmas holidays; though Drew thinks Lakeisha and Rachel will be friends, Rachel “can tell Lakeisha is none of the things that I think are important” (113). Drew gives Rachel the book Black Skin, White Masks, and Aunt Loretta’s copy of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. When Rachel and Lakeisha go to Rachel’s room, Lakeisha looks through Rachel’s belongings. Rachel tells Lakeisha about her mother, describing her as light-skinned rather than White. Lakeisha shows Rachel dance moves and sings along with the radio. When Grandma calls the girls to have dessert, Rachel feels relieved. Drew talks about missing Aunt Loretta, and, because Grandma has been drinking, she talks about missing Aunt Loretta and “Charles and Robbie and that baby too” (119). Before Drew and Lakeisha leave, they sing a song from Aunt Loretta’s funeral.

In a journal entry, Nella reveals that she and Roger married because she became pregnant. Roger had warned Nella that Europeans might accept an interracial marriage, but America is not like Europe; now that Nella is in America with the children, she is beginning to understand what Roger meant, but she still feels confused that her children’s skin color is surprising to other people.

In the present, Lakeisha and Rachel watch the holiday parade in Portland from the fire escape at Drew’s workplace, the Salvation Army Harbor Lights Center, a place for homeless people. When they come down to the cafeteria for lunch, Lakeisha is disrespectful of the homeless men in Drew’s care. When a homeless man compliments Rachel, Lakeisha laughs as Rachel leaves the table. Later, Grandma tells Rachel that she and Drew will be going to visit Aunt Loretta’s grave. While they are out, Rachel and Lakeisha nose through the house, exploring Grandma’s rooms and other areas that are usually off-limits. Rachel finds a box of her belongings; she is startled to find a newspaper article describing what happened the day her mother and her siblings died. Grandma returns home, having finished an entire bottle of sherry, and goes straight to bed. Rachel remembers that a man was on the rooftop with them, and she regrets not telling anyone about the man: “if only I had told, then Mor wouldn’t be all to blame” (130).

In a journal entry, Nella notes that Doug is drinking again, and she compares his behavior to Roger’s behavior. She questions her decision to come to America.

In the past, in Chicago, Brick is staying with Laronne and her family. One night, the police question Brick about the man he claims he saw on the rooftop. Brick struggles “to describe a man he’d never seen” (136) and makes up details for the police officer. Laronne believes that Brick is describing Doug, Nella’s boyfriend. Two nights later, Brick runs away and heads for Portland, Oregon, because Laronne has told him that Rachel is being moved to a hospital in Portland. Brick gets on a bus heading for Kansas City, and he meets a homeless couple who remind him of his mother; they are also addicts. They look after Brick and give him drugs.

In the present, in Portland, Rachel starts high school. She identifies as Black, but spends most of her time in the library because her Black classmates accuse her of wanting to be White. Rachel’s relationship with her grandmother is under pressure; Grandma drinks a lot of sherry and disapproves of Rachel’s backtalk. At school, when Rachel becomes involved with a boy named John Bailey, Grandma compares Rachel to Nella in a hurtful way, advising Rachel not to behave around men the way her mother did. Rachel remembers the days just before her mother and siblings died; her mother had lost a tooth while fighting with Doug, and she had begun to neglect her younger children.

In the past, in Chicago, Laronne remembers explaining to Nella the meaning of various racist terms. Because her English is imperfect, Nella does not understand everything she hears so she accidentally uses racist terms to address her own children. Laronne realizes that Nella jumped from the rooftop with her children to go to a place “where her love was enough” (156) and where Nella felt she could protect her children from harm.

In the present, Grandma goes away with her friend Miss Verle, so Drew looks after Rachel for the weekend. Drew takes Rachel to a blues club where a woman named Etta James performs. When Rachel tells Drew that she is deaf in one ear, he is surprised, and she realizes that he does not know her entire story. Rachel enjoys the concert, and Drew tells Rachel that he wishes Lakeisha was more like Rachel. Rachel thinks to herself that Lakeisha is unintelligent. At home, Rachel thanks Drew for their evening before Drew goes to sleep on the couch at Grandma’s house; she also tells Drew about the blue bottle she holds inside of her. When Miss Verle and Grandma return from their weekend away, they smell like sherry.

At school, John Bailey threatens to break up with Rachel unless she allows their physical relationship to intensify. Upset, Rachel goes to see Drew at work, and he comforts her. At school, a girl named Tamika, who is not an honor student like Rachel, bullies Rachel until Rachel punches her in the face. Anthony Miller shows interest in Rachel again after this incident, and that summer, they spend time together. At Grandma’s house, Rachel and Anthony Miller have sex, but when Grandma opens the door to Rachel’s bedroom and interrupts them, Anthony “leaves without kissing me” (172). Rachel writes in her journal about the experience, claiming she wants to do it again, “tell[ing] myself that story because it could be true” (173).