We Cast a Shadow

Penny and the narrator are at the Chicken Coop, a fried chicken restaurant run by Mama, the narrator’s mother. Both Penny and Mama think Seasons is exploiting the narrator by “[using] him as blackface” (72) to make the company seem more diverse. He knows they’re right, but he doesn’t care as long as he can fund Nigel’s surgery. Mama hands him a letter from his incarcerated father, Sir, but he rips it up, asserting that “[he doesn’t] associate with criminals” (74).

A man with long dreads enters the Chicken Coop. It’s “cousin” Supercargo, who is not a blood relative but a childhood friend who used to live with the narrator. The two were close before Supercargo went to jail in an alleged frame-up. Nigel mentions that he’s going after the leading role in his school play. He’s learning piano from a new teacher named Mr. Riley. The narrator realizes with a start that this is the same Riley who was recently fired from Seasons. Supercargo leads Nigel to the local community center to practice piano, and Penny follows. When Mama and the narrator are alone, Mama confronts him—she knows that he is saving up for Nigel’s surgery.