White Smoke

Marigold and her blended family (her mother, Raquel; younger brother, Sammy; stepfather, Alec; and younger stepsister, Piper) arrive at their new home in the Maplewood neighborhood of Cedarville, a midwestern city. They traveled together over several days from Marigold’s old home in a small, predominantly white California beach town. Raquel has earned a chance for the family to live for free in a renovated house by accepting an artist-in-residency position with the Sterling Foundation, a group devoted to reviving the neighborhood economically and culturally; Raquel will write a book over the three years they live in the house while also attending engagements and benefits for the foundation. Alec is an accountant who loves this idea; Mr. Sterling, head of the Foundation, has secured a job for him as well.

The decrepit neighborhood astounds Sammy and Marigold, and Marigold is paranoid that the old house has bedbugs, a particular fear of hers. Piper keeps a close claim on her father, Alec, making it apparent that she does not approve of this marriage or new family. When Marigold raises doubts to her mother about the move, Raquel reminds her that they could use three years of debt-free living because of Marigold’s recent stay in a pricey drug rehabilitation facility. Marigold uses mantras and reminders about positivity and patience from her guru to try to contend with the stress of seeing the new home and the strong desire for marijuana. She texts with her best friend from California, Tamara, but thinks that the rest of her old acquaintances “can die a slow death” (7).

Irma, a representative from the Sterling Foundation, shows them through the house; Marigold thinks she sees a shadow in one of the bedrooms, but no one is there. Once Raquel signs the agreement, Irma warns them against wandering alone, says the basement is off-limits, and tells them they must be careful to lock up. The family is stunned. The contractors’ phone alarms go off at 5:35 pm, and all leave immediately.

On the first morning in the new house, Piper snippily asks for bacon and eggs, though Mari, Sammy, and Raquel prefer vegan food and oat milk. Alec offers to take Piper out to breakfast and get groceries. Raquel wants to know who left one of her good crystal glasses out on the counter, and Marigold says she heard someone walking around in the night, but no one claims to have put the glass there. The contractors arrive, looking as though they dread entering the house. Mr. Watson, head of the crew, asks if the family found a missing hammer, but no one saw it. Marigold is a “newly crowned minimalist” who has little but some light-colored warm-weather clothes and a comforter set to unpack: “Everything else was burned” (29).

Later, she and Sammy prepare to take Bud, their dog, for a walk (and see if they can get cell service), but when Marigold flings the door open, she walks right into the knocking fist of a boy her age, Yusef Brown. The blow connects with her right eye and sends her to the floor. The boy, who helps with his uncle’s yard care service, is smooth-talking and handsome, but Marigold is embarrassed and does not gracefully respond to his comments. He also tries to offer Sammy a Snickers candy bar, but Sammy is dangerously allergic to nuts, and both Marigold and Raquel yell to get the candy away. Yusef tries to chat up Marigold about Kings High where she will attend, but she pointedly asks if he has work to do. Yusef leaves. Marigold finds her phone sitting in the middle of a stair, weirdly placed by someone else.

Alec will be working as a financial analyst for a partner firm of the Sterling Foundation. The night before his first day, Alec cannot find his watch. After cleaning up from dinner, Sammy notices a horrible smell coming from a basement vent. The next day, Mr. Watson grows tense when Sammy says it smelled “like someone died in [there]” (42). He flatly says the contractors will not go down the basement. Another worker gets the cable TV working; an evangelical named Scott Clark is giving his daily sermon. When Marigold says they are not Christians but spiritualists who believe in a higher power, the worker is not impressed; he says everyone watches Clark and that he is “a mighty prophet around here” (43).

At dinner, everyone has a root vegetable dish and salad except Piper, who eats grilled cheese and fries that Alec makes for her. Raquel questions why the oat milk is almost gone already. Piper claims she saw someone in the hallway in the night who claimed they used to live in the house. Raquel and Alec assume she is making up an imaginary friend. At 3:19 am, Marigold woke to the feeling that someone was in her room. The door is open, and Bud, who sleeps with her, is pacing downstairs. A light is on in the kitchen, the glass is out again, and it looks like it has unrinsed remains of milk in it. The terrible smell returns. Marigold hears creaking, and Bud growls; she flees back to bed.

Marigold and Sammy walk down the street to get a signal and then call their father, a contract architect on a job in Japan. He tells them that the Maplewood houses being renovated were likely built in the 1900s, that many like them burned in riots, and that the surviving ones were likely foreclosed on in the recession. He speaks alone to Marigold and reminds her she has this one chance to keep her record clean going forward. Marigold says she understands. She tries to search online for facts about Cedarville, but it does not work. Sammy convinces her to enter the abandoned house on the corner. They see tons of dust, moldy furniture, and evidence of a squatter. In the kitchen, they are terrified when they hear someone upstairs; when Piper comes into the kitchen, Marigold snaps at her about playing on the second floor, but Piper says she was not upstairs. They argue, and Piper runs out in tears.

Raquel is late on a deadline because of the Sterling Foundation commitments and keeps misplacing things. Marigold notices that a family crest is carved into the fireplace, the same one she saw in the abandoned house. Mr. Watson reveals he is one of many contractor supervisors to take the job; the others all quit.

In the shower, Marigold tries to wash her hair, but the water cuts off twice. When she turns to reach the conditioner, she sees a shadowy hand through the curtain reaching for the knob. She accuses Sammy of the prank; he insists it was not him. Marigold is so upset she has trouble breathing; Sammy guides her to sit on her bed and fetches her inhaler. Across the hall, Piper watches them from her bed, listening. Marigold sees “[s]he already knows” something is going on (60).

Marigold uses her laptop to video call Tamara, telling her about the creepy house, Yusef, and Piper’s annoying behavior. Tamara suggests she grow marijuana in an abandoned lot nearby, which Marigold thinks is a good idea; Tamara also warns Marigold not to be “caught up” in the wrong activity, to which Marigold reminds her she was “poisoned,” not caught up.

When school begins, Piper starts fifth grade, Marigold starts junior year, and Sammy is in middle school. Alec reveals Marigold’s dad, Chay, sent her new track shoes, but Marigold says they can return them, as she doesn’t plan on running track there. This upsets Raquel, but Marigold heads out to school. The building is old; most of the students are girls. She meets a girl, Erika, who smells of marijuana, but Marigold is paranoid about asking for any. Yusef tries to charm her after school, but Marigold tells him to stay clear. After school, she tells Raquel she needs cash for lunch, but Raquel says she will write a check for a school account to avoid giving Marigold cash. Frustrated, Marigold goes for a run. On the other side of Sweetwater Avenue, her street, Maple, has nicer houses and people living in them. But when they see her, they stare. Marigold reflects on getting arrested and taking Percocet and then thinks about the hand in her shower and how it appeared to be burned. She craves marijuana to ease her nerves.

Raquel says perhaps Piper should see a counselor about her imaginary friend she calls Mrs. Suga, an older Black woman. Alec says she could go to “the same place Marigold goes” (78). Marigold thinks about the supplies she will need to start a marijuana garden. She reflects on her love for gardening and the many terrariums she used to have. She goes to the urban garden club meeting at the library Yusef told her about. If she volunteers for community planting projects, she can use their garden tools and soil free of charge. Yusef is there; she rides in his truck to the first project, planting trees on the freeway. After the task, Marigold asks about some buildings that look like factories; Yusef says they are prisons.

Marigold goes to Yusef’s house to borrow his tiller. Yusef’s grandfather Pop-Pop is watching Scott Clark yell about planting holy seeds. Yusef explains the racket: People order seeds to plant and then send back a donation to Clark’s “church.” Yusef says he has tilled many properties so people can plant those seeds, but they never grow well. Yusef is a DJ-in-training too, wanting to take over his father’s line of work. He plays a song about marijuana, and Marigold asks him if he smokes; he does not and reacts with disgust. She agrees, but inside, she is planning to plant and harvest her marijuana garden before it gets too cold.