Silver Sparrow

by Tayari Jones

Smokey Robinson complained that “a taste of

classes let out even though he supposedly worked

RALEIGH WANTED TO MARRY my

Messsssssssy

“James, was I raped?”

Girlllll whattt???????

Arethra Franklin at the end: “Sail on, silver girl . . . Your time has come to shine. All your dreams are on their way.”

“Where do you want to go to school?” Uncle Raleigh asked. “I’m thinking about Mount Holyoke,” I said. My father and my uncle looked at each other. “You d-d-don’t say,” said Daddy.

A whole mess

Marcus met my eyes and kind of winked. I turned away and rushed toward the food.

Is this a thing??? ...because MESSY

She whispered, “I love you. Can’t you tell?”

WO

“My dad is coming to get us.” “No,” Dana said. “Why did you call him? I told you I was getting help. Why couldn’t you give me ten minutes?”

The suspense

“She started freaking out, Uncle Raleigh. I don’t know what’s wrong with her.” “What’s her name again, your friend?” “Dana,” I said. Raleigh made a little O with his lips

Omgggggg

“Let me go help James with that tire,” Uncle Raleigh said. He and Daddy squatted by the fender and whispered together like mobsters.

I bet you do need to talk to he cheater

“You were! You were going to just leave my child stranded out here in the middle of nowhere.”

He's a piece of shit

“Hello there, Dana.” I pushed the dress aside like a heavy curtain to see my lost friend standing beside her mother.

Enter the coming to you as a woman speech yikes

I unfolded the page. It was a Xerox copy; I could still smell the chemicals. I was looking at a wedding license issued to James Lee Witherspoon and Gwendolyn Beatrice Yarboro in the state of Alabama the year after I was born.

Marriage license from the other woman

When you have seen your mother shattered, there’s no putting her back together. There will always be seams, chipped edges, and clumps of dried glue. Even if you could get her to where she looks the same, she will never be stronger than a cracked plate.

Very terrible that she is going through al the grief and wondering of why her

BIGAMY IS A CLASS C FELONY. IN JAIL YOU WILL NOT BE A ENTREPRENEUR. YOU WILL BE JUST ANOTHER NIGGER. “Wow,” I said, running my fingers over

No one helped even when he shoved me away like I was a grown man. I didn’t fall. I didn’t crumple. And I am proud of this small moment of dignity. “You made me do that,” he said. “You and Gwen have turned me into an animal.”

This man is the absolute worst type of trash