Crenshaw

That evening, Jackson’s mother gives him and Robin a grocery bag and instructs them to fill it with their keepsakes. The parents are planning to sell all non-essentials at a yard sale to raise money for back rent and water use. Their mother explains to Robin that keepsakes are treasured objects, like her guitar and books, “because those were always important” (34).

That night, Jackson’s parents read Robin her favorite book, The House on East 88th Street, about a crocodile called Lyle who enjoys baths and dog walking. Watching his parents and Robin snuggling together on her mattress with the book, Jackson feels separate from them. He has just read a book about reptiles and tells them that crocodiles probably would not enjoy baths. His dad tells him “to go with the flow”; Robin asks what Jackson’s favorite book was at her age (36). Her mother replies that he liked A Hole is to Dig, which Jackson points out is “more like a dictionary than a made-up story” (36).

He asks his father if he bought the purple jelly beans. He did not. Jackson’s mother asks Robin if she got them from the birthday party she attended earlier.