Fall on your Knees

Content Warning: This section features gun violence.

In spring of 1931, Ralph has been away to college for months; he has stopped writing letters to Mercedes. Then, a letter arrives from Ralph telling Mercedes he is engaged.

Frances gets to know her mother’s family, particularly her grandfather Mahmoud and her mother’s sister Camille. Camille disparages Frances for her work in the bar. Frances is also drawn to the family’s Black maid Teresa, Ginger’s sister. She loves to watch Teresa preparing dinner.

One afternoon, Frances is surprised to see Ginger deliver a special order of his homemade Caribbean beer to Mahmoud. She then conjectures that Ginger, who makes regular deliveries to New York, might have been the father of Kathleen’s twins. Maybe this was the reason her father banned Frances from playing Black music in the house. She is determined to punish Ginger.

Back when Kathleen was in New York, Ginger had been making liquor runs there. One night, he was spellbound when he heard a woman pianist in one of Harlem’s speakeasies playing “Honeysuckle Rose.” Even his wife, Adelaide, noticed a difference in Ginger’s attitude: “Can music cast a spell?” (302).

Frances decides to go to Ginger’s house and ask for some homemade beer.