Full Cicada Moon

In “Farmer Dell,” Mimi describes the neighbor’s house where she saw Pattress and the boy as long and low. The house is “snuggled into the snow” and has a garage twice as high. The mailbox has the name “Dell” stenciled onto the driveway, reminding Mimi of “The Farmer in the Dell” (51). Though the man doesn’t look like a farmer, she calls him Farmer Dell. Farmer Dell always wears green work pants and a plaid wool jacket. Pattress is always with him, sitting at the garage door, and Mimi hasn’t seen the boy again. She watches as Farmer Dell clears the snow, walks to his mailbox, and pushes a snowblower down his driveway. Papa often waves to Farmer Dell, but he doesn’t wave back. When Mimi asks why he doesn’t, Papa explains that maybe he can’t see well, or doesn’t like them. Mimi says that he doesn’t even know them, to which Papa responds he doesn’t yet. She feels content knowing that even if Mr. Dell doesn’t like them, he doesn’t know them yet. She then thinks, “Drip, drip, drip” (54).

In “Others,” Mimi describes the two-bedroom house they lived in back in Berkeley. They lived next door to her second cousins Shelley and Sharon and Mama’s cousin Auntie Sachi.