The Lions Of Little Rock

After school the following day, Marlee comes home to find Betty Jean upset. Her son Curtis was accused of egging the house simply because the boy was a Negro in the wrong place at the wrong time. Marlee is too terrified of Red to point the finger at him and JT, but she calls her father, and he gets Curtis released from jail and pays the $50 fine for vandalism. Betty Jean agrees to repay the money from her salary.

Marlee asks her father why he would help Curtis for no reason. He says that he joined a Council on Human Relations after learning about atrocities committed against Negroes in the South. Marlee realizes for the first time how dangerous Liz’s situation is: “I had to teach her how to keep her mouth shut when she got mad so she wouldn’t feel embarrassed. So she wouldn’t anger people like Red. So she wouldn’t get hurt” (127).

The next day at the rock crusher, Marlee tries to teach Liz her technique of counting prime numbers in her head. This will distract Liz from saying something she’ll later regret. Back at home, Marlee has slipped a Bible quote into her mother’s purse that urges the pursuit of righteousness without fear of consequences. She hopes this will encourage her mother to support integration. However, her mother doesn’t seem moved by the words. In the mail, Marlee also receives a flyer from the WEC, urging those who care to make their voices heard. She thinks, “I cared. Helping Liz and leaving notes for Mother and sending candy bars to Judy was nice, but it wasn’t enough. Not when there might be more that I could do” (132).

At Sunday school, Marlee asks Miss Winthrop if she can attend the next WEC meeting on Friday. Her teacher is delighted. At the meeting, Mrs. Brewer, the chairwoman, proposes running six candidates for school board positions who would represent the WEC cause. She also discourages the participation of colored people in the committee and says, “Miss Winthrop, I appreciate your idealism, but admitting Negro women to our group would be the end of the WEC” (136). Too many members would be alienated by their presence.

Despite their disappointment at this news, Miss Winthrop and Marlee spend a few days circulating petitions in the neighborhood for the new school board. On Sunday evening, Marlee receives a threatening phone call. The caller seethes, “‘Little nigger lover […] You’d better watch yourself because—’ I slammed down the phone” (138). 

On Thanksgiving, Marlee attends a football game with her father and David. Her brother is delighted when he hears that Marlee is tackling advanced algebra. He thinks she will make a great NASA engineer someday. Back at home, Judy has arrived for a visit. She proudly announces that she has a new boyfriend. With her head so full of romance, Judy hardly has time for Marlee, who says, “I’d always thought Judy was an ice-cold Coca-Cola. Now it seemed like she’d gone flat” (144). Late that night, Mr. Nisbett receives what Marlee assumes is another threatening phone call.

Liz and Marlee meet at the rock crusher to fold flyers for the upcoming school board elections. Marlee thinks, “For the hundredth time, I wished we could do all the normal things friends do. Go places for fun. Have the same circle of friends” (146). Since counting prime numbers didn’t help Liz’s temper, Marlee suggests that she write things down in a journal. This method works and allows Liz to cope with her rude classmates. Back at home, Marlee gets into the routine of helping Betty Jean with household chores and asking her about the NAACP and integration. Betty Jean encourages Marlee to continue with the WEC to make changes in Little Rock. 

As the whole town turns out to watch the Christmas Parade, Marlee compares notes with Miss Winthrop about the results of the school board election. The integrationists won three seats, but the board is still deadlocked. Yet, Miss Winthrop sees this as a sign of progress. She says, “I’ve been getting a lot more threatening phone calls […] I think that’s a good sign we’re making a difference” (149). Marlee rides on a school float with a quiet classmate named Little Jimmy. He says he’s heard that she’s still friends with Liz but confides that he likes the idea. Like Liz, Jimmy keeps a journal and writes down all the things he can’t say to others. 

The family spends Christmas at Granny’s house in Pine Bluff. Everyone is happy to be reunited, but Judy is still focused entirely on her new boyfriend. Mr. Nisbett gives Granny her first TV. At first, she protests but ends up loving the gift. Mr. Nisbett also surprises his family with the gift of an airplane trip from Pine Bluff back to Little Rock. Marlee isn’t thrilled with the idea of flight.

On December 31, the entire family travels to the airport. Mr. Nisbett will drive home to Little Rock while Mrs. Nisbett, David, Judy, and Marlee take the plane. Marlee thinks, “I knew I was going to hate flying. I didn’t like new things. I didn’t like heights. Planes were new, and they went high in the air. Plus, they sometimes crashed. All those things were bad” (157).

Once the plane takes off, all the Nisbetts get queasy except for Marlee. She’s astonished by how much she loves the experience of flying. She even forgets her shyness and talks to the stewardess. Back at home, Marlee calls Liz to tell her, “‘I was really scared of flying, and it turned out okay. No, not okay. Great.’ For the first time, I was thinking out loud. And it was fun. ‘I think it might be time to try some other things I’m afraid of’” (163).  

Back at school after the holiday break, Marlee starts to behave in unexpected ways. She raises her hand and answers questions in class. Then, she goes back to eat lunch in the cafeteria with everybody else. When Sally makes fun of her, Marlee calls her out for her bad behavior. When JT comes over to ask her to do more of his homework, she refuses: “I was beginning to think JT was like the nasty phone calls—scary, but all hot air” (167).

At the rock crusher, Liz confides that she and Curtis might start dating. Marlee feels slightly threatened by this new relationship, but both friends vow to keep meeting together as long as they can.

On January 27, 1959, Marlee turns thirteen. Her mother says that she named her daughter after Marlene Dietrich. Marlee is pleased to learn this, but it makes her realize how little she communicates with her mother: “I still couldn’t figure out how to speak to Mother. The problem was, we hadn’t had a conversation in so long, it seemed like we didn’t have anything to say. So we didn’t talk, and by not talking, we made it even worse” (170).

A few days later, Marlee comes down with a case of the measles. As she wanders down to the kitchen to get a drink, she finds her mother at the kitchen table reading an article about how schools have reopened in Virginia, but the crisis in Little Rock rages on. Mrs. Nisbett confesses that she’s mortified by her own community and simply wants the controversy to end. Marlee gets a box of WEC flyers and her mother helps her fold them.