White Smoke

Marigold attends a party Erika invites her to. She finds herself watching Yusef DJ, attracted to him. Erika lets Marigold smoke the marijuana she has, and the two girls have a great time. Yusef is angry and bitter that Marigold smokes, but she cannot control her craving and takes many hits from Erika. Later, in bed, Marigold looks forward to a great sleep. But she wakes in the night to see a man in her room, facing the wall with his head down. She flees into the hall and calls Yusef, who blames the marijuana for her hallucination. He tells her to write a happy face on paper and shove it under the door to scare away this demon. Marigold sleeps in the bathtub; in the morning, the happy face has been turned into a face that is screaming. She blames Piper but gives up when Alec and Raquel start to question why she is upset.

Marigold FaceTimes Tamara on her laptop while Raquel and Alec take Sammy and Piper to the movies. Via the laptop camera, Tamara sees someone walk past the bedroom doorway over Marigold’s shoulder. Scared, Marigold hangs up and goes downstairs. No one is there, but she senses a presence. The power goes out, but she is too afraid to venture to the fuse box in the basement. The power returns, and Marigold calls Yusef. He is driving with Erika, who asks if Marigold wants a hot dog.

Yusef and Erika take Marigold out for food. Marigold gets only fries, as she does not eat meat. Erika mentions how Marigold’s house is haunted by The Hag, and Yusef recalls how many contractors quit or lost tools while working there. They go to Cedarville Park, which has a beach area on the Cedarville River. Yusef describes how the Sterling Foundation cleaned up the area years before since it was polluted and unusable. Yusef and Erika recall neighborhood parties there as children; then the Sterling Laws cracked down on minor offenses, and people became afraid to gather. Erika goes to smoke, but Marigold stays with Yusef. Yusef tells Marigold he understands that Erika has a hard life since everyone in her family is in prison except her grandmother, with whom she lives.

When Erika returns, she and Yusef explain that no one in Maplewood celebrates Halloween; about 30 years before, “after the riots and the recession” (188), the abandoned houses were commonly filled with people who were addicted to substances and squatters. One Halloween, a young white trick-or-treater, Seth Reed, was killed in Maplewood; everyone blamed the squatters. Now, each Halloween is “Devil’s Night”: people from Cedarville intentionally set fires to the abandoned houses of Maplewood to threaten the squatters. Some squatters perish in the fires. Those who live in Maplewood stay home to protect their houses; as Yusef says, if a home is lost, those living there have no money or options to rebuild. Erika claims those in authority (police and fire rescue) promote this activity. Marigold feels attracted to Yusef but pulls away.

Back at home, Marigold researches donors to the Sterling Foundation, thinking that some evidence of wrongdoing might help her neighbors “rise up together” against being pushed from their homes (191). She also looks into news about Seth Reed’s death. She notices a connection; the man who found the boy’s body and one of the members of the Foundation’s board of directors have a common last name—Russo. Further digging reveals that the Russo name is heavily involved in many Cedarville businesses such as duct installation, cable, and flooring. A union head named Russo was named in a settlement where the union received $2.5 million from the city, and one of the lawyers who brokered the settlement was also named Russo. Yusef calls to check on Marigold, and they chat late into the night.

The next morning, the alarms Marigold typically sets for herself on her phone read strangely; someone else set them. They ask her if she locked the door, if she might have bedbugs, and other paranoia-inducing questions. Marigold attacks Piper verbally at breakfast, causing Alec to get into Marigold’s face. When Marigold explains, Piper blames Ms. Suga for the alarm messages; she also insists that Marigold secretly tells Chay that she hates Alec. Instead of reprimanding Piper, Alec agrees with her that talking behind others’ backs is not nice, and Marigold storms out.

Raquel praises Marigold for making a fresh start in Cedarville and encourages her to join track. Marigold feels guilty for keeping secrets such as the marijuana garden. The plants already have a noticeable smell, so Marigold takes materials from a janitor’s closet at school to make a carbon filter. Inside 219, red and muddy footprints reveal that someone had been there. Marigold flees. Back home, Mr. Watson wants to know that she is no longer going into abandoned houses; she assures him she is not.