After Tupac and D Foster

One winter evening, the narrator, D, and Neeka are playing cards at the narrator’s house when D finally asks the girls if they want to “roam” with her. They knew she often went around the city by herself, but she had never invited them to come with her. Neeka was spending the night at the narrator’s house that night, and the narrator’s mother was working late, so they could leave the house for a couple hours without her mother noticing.

The three girls get on a bus that takes them further away from the city. The houses get bigger and further apart. The narrator thinks that she prefers her own neighborhood, where everyone lives close together and knows each other well. She feels a little scared as they go further away from home, and finally they get off the bus at a park, dark and empty on a cold night. D insists that it’s safe, but Neeka and the narrator aren’t so sure. They eventually follow her until they get to an amphitheater made of stone. The narrator is overcome by the beauty of the moonlight and snow covering the stone steps and stage, and the girls make snow angels and shout “We’re here!” over and over. The narrator feels that in that moment, at the amphitheater with her best friends, two separate parts of herself finally merged and she felt whole. They get back on the bus with cold, wet clothes, and Neeka and the narrator are back at home, in pajamas, drinking hot cocoa before the narrator’s mom gets home. They don’t say a lot to each other, but smile about their secret, magical night roaming around with D.

The narrator turns 13 in May. She says her body is changing and she has been having growing pains in her legs. She is now taller than her mother and her friends. She feels as if her body is trying to grow into itself, a little like how her mind and heart finally came together when she went to the amphitheater with D and Neeka.

Her mother gives her a special gift. It is a framed photo of the narrator with Neeka and D, and each of them is wearing an expression on their face that say so much about who they are. D, half smiling, seems to be saying, “Can I trust you?” (82). Neeka’s smile looks worldly and wise, as if she’s already grown up. The narrator, however, is looking off into the distance. She knows that when the photo was being taken, she was just looking down the street at some kids jump roping, but when she looks at the photo later, it looks like she’s looking into the future, to wherever she’s going next.

Her mother also gives her $20 and tells her that she can take her friends out to lunch with it. That is a lot of money to the narrator, but it doesn’t mean as much to her as the photo does. She says she hopes that they will be friends forever, and her mom assures her that they will.

The summer after the narrator turns 13, she goes with Neeka and her family to visit Tash in jail. They have to take the subway to get to the bus, and then it is a three-hour bus ride to get to the jail. The narrator and Neeka have to help watch Neeka’s four younger siblings during the trip, and Neeka is frustrated that she never gets a moment to herself with such a large family.

During one part of the trip, they finally get to sit together on the bus without her siblings, and Neeka tells the narrator that she finally figured out her Big Purpose: She wants to be a college professor. She doesn’t know what subject she wants to teach, just that she wants people to listen to her and respect what she has to say. The narrator suggests that she go to law school because she’s so good at arguing with Jayjones. She replies that if she was already a lawyer, Tash would have never been sent to jail. Everyone who knows Tash knows that he didn’t do anything wrong, but the people who know that aren’t the ones who make decisions.

Eventually, Neeka’s siblings settle down and their section of the bus gets quiet. The narrator tells Neeka that she can finally have the peace she needs to think about her Big Purpose.