The Stars Beneath Our Feet

Vega’s mom sends Vega and Lolly after dusk to a bodega to get plantains. While they walk, Vega agrees that it’s messed up that Lolly has to take down Harmonee. Since they weren’t born with money, making art and music isn’t really expected of them. Lolly believes Vega will make a great violinist. Vega in turn knows Lolly will make a great architect.

They pass Sunny and April E., who hurry, embarrassed because they are walking a chicken on a leash. Vega laughs until he cries and says that was surreal.

At the bodega, Harp and Gully suddenly appear and slam Lolly to the ground. They steal Lolly and Vega’s phones and tell them that if Frito doesn’t join their crew, this is what they’ll get. They sprint off, leaving the boys bleeding on the ground. Manny, the bodega owner, calls the police, but Vega and Lolly don’t tell them anything. To their dismay, the cops make them ride in the back seat back to St. Nick. Lolly looks over at Vega and notices that his face is hardened, different.

Lolly dreams of Jermaine’s face made out of Lego bricks that glow red like the red brick wall outside Manny’s. When Lolly wakes up, he realizes he is crying. At breakfast, he tells his mom that he got jumped. She is furious at Lolly and blames him for “flashing” his phone about (196). He could have been killed.

In after-school, Lolly and Rose build something new, unlike anything they’ve done before—a bridge. Vega says it’s crooked and pushes one of the bricks, making a whole side collapse. He smirks in a mean way and leaves without apologizing. Lolly is angry and jumps up to go after him, but Rose pulls him back. She starts to rebuild, and eventually Lolly joins her.

The Lego bridge connects one of Rose’s city sections with Lolly’s. Mr. Ali had the idea to display their work at the health cookout.

Lolly hasn’t seen Vega since he pulled apart their bridge a few days ago. Vega has stopped coming to after-school. Neither Vega nor Rose is at the cookout.

People come up to Lolly all day to take pictures and tell him how much they love his art. Even Sunny is there, with her arm in a sling. Sunny congratulates Lolly and tells him that she was wrong for making rude comments about his work and that he is a true artist. Steve tells Lolly that Harmonee should be in a gallery. He videotapes Lolly telling him about the Lego creation. Lolly realizes that when he talks about Jermaine, he doesn’t feel as sad as he used to. Steve tells Lolly that he is a hard worker—he shouldn’t take the “easy path” that Jermaine did (211). When

When Daddy Rachpaul comes to the cookout, he sees Lolly’s bruises and says that they need to enroll him in martial arts or boxing since Lolly’s mom made him soft. Daddy Rachpaul is amazed at Lolly’s city. Lolly gets the courage to tell his dad that he should have been there when Jermaine needed him. His dad says Lolly doesn’t understand what he went through when Lolly’s mom rejected him. Daddy Rachpaul wipes his eyes, but can’t admit that he is crying, instead blaming his clown makeup.

After everyone leaves, Rose finally shows up. They quietly deconstruct their city. Lolly wants to donate most of the Lego bricks to the kids in St. Nick Houses, who can use them to “create their own worlds” (212). Lolly is surprised by how fast their cities fall. He and Rose poured their pain into their builds and they learned a lot from the experience. It changed them. 

Lolly is walking home from after-school when he passes a car blasting music. It is Frito, his cousins, and, surprisingly, Vega. Frito tells Lolly that he and Vega should be in his crew. Lolly wants badly to get back at Harp and Gully; the incident is forcing him to make a decision that he has tried to avoid for a long time.

Lolly gets over ten thousand followers on his web page because of his Lego show. He can hardly believe it. He hasn’t ever been recognized for anything, so he is happy to be famous for building Harmonee. A local TV news crew interviews Lolly about his Lego city and all the attention it is getting online. They ask him why he builds with Lego in particular. At first, Lolly’s mind goes blank, but then he thinks back to when Jermaine bought him an outer-space Lego kit for Christmas one year. It was the first time Jermaine used money he earned at the barber shop to buy presents. Back then, Lolly and his parents thought Jermaine was really going places.

The summer before Jermaine died, Jermaine complained about the Lego pieces Lolly left all over their room. Lolly asked if he remembered buying him the outer-space Lego, but Jermaine didn’t. Lolly remembers being shocked because it was such an important memory for him.

The next day, Rose and Lolly go out hunting for new buildings for Lolly to sketch. They see a brick building with what looks like a crystal house or a beautiful jewel on top. A friendly old couple comes out of the building and Lolly and Rose ask them to take a picture in front of the building. The woman smiles and tells them if they are interested in architecture, to walk the High Line, an old, elevated train track that has been transformed into a city park.

The High Line is unlike any park Lolly has ever seen since it hovers in the air. After walking around, Lolly takes out his sketchbook and looks at the interesting plants and architecture. He and Rose feel out of place. He can imagine the rich old couple here, but he doesn’t think that the High Line is for someone like him.

Lolly tells Rose he wants to make art for the rest of his life. Rose does, too. He notices her looking at a metal sculpture of a man’s head. After a moment, he decides it is art and wonders if his mom’s Pez dispensers are also art. Rose asks if he’s going to make Lego art for the rest of his life. He doesn’t know.

Back at Lolly’s apartment, Lolly’s mom has exciting news. Harold Tuttle, the owner of Tuttle’s Toys down at Rockefeller Center, called their house personally to tell them he saw Lolly and their Lego creations on the news. He was so impressed that he wants Lolly and Rose to build something for Easter in the front window of the store. What’s more, he’s going to pay them for it. Rose smiles, looks at the floor, and covers her face with her hands. Lolly can’t believe it. He and Rose were fantasizing about making art, and now someone will pay them like real artists.