Dreamland Burning

The narrative shifts to Tulsa in 1921. William, a white 17-year-old, describes, “I wasn’t good when the trouble started. Wasn’t particularly bad either, but I had potential” (13). Will and his friend Cletus “Clete” Hayes are both from wealthy families and enjoy causing trouble. One night, Will and Clete are drinking at a speakeasy, a sleazy dive bar that sells illegal alcohol called the Two-Knock, and Will is shocked when Addison “Addie” Dobbs, the girl he loves, walks in. Clete urges Will to buy her a drink, but then an African American man walks in to meet Addie. As the man acts familiar with and touches Addie, Will becomes silently enraged, even wishing that the man would be lynched for touching a white woman.

Rowan stares at the skeleton that the construction workers have uncovered, disturbed that it has been unceremoniously dumped face-down. Rowan calls her best friend James Galvez, waking him up before he goes to work. As Rowan waits for his arrival, she remembers when they bonded as friends, getting drunk together at a Christmas party and exchanging secrets: James confesses that he is asexual, and Rowan admits that she is sometimes ashamed of her blackness. Rowan hears sirens and panics momentarily, assuming that the workmen called the police. Although she hasn’t done anything wrong, Rowan realizes that her instant response to the police is probably warranted, because police often treat non-white youth as if they are suspicious. The sirens fade, and Rowan listens for James’ car.

Clete pushes Will to intervene, and Will goes over to Addie and confronts the man she’s with. Addie recognizes Will and the man introduces himself as Clarence Banks, inviting Will to join them. Will is drunk, and although Addie tells Will that she and Clarence are just old friends and pleads with him to back down, Will tries to punch Clarence, who defends himself by pushing Will away. Will hits the floor and breaks his wrist. Addie and Clarence are immediately afraid. Clete tries to rouse the bar crowd against Clarence, but the bartender tells Clarence to run and orders Will to leave and never return.

Outside, Clete finds a police officer. Although alcohol is illegal due to Prohibition, speakeasies would bribe police to look the other way. Clete insists that Clarence attacked Will because Will told him to stop “pawing all over a white girl” (23). The officer, visibly sickened, demands to know the girl’s name. Will and Clete pretend that they don’t know but give Clarence’s name. The officer demands a bribe from the bartender and suggests that Will go to the station, but Will panics when he suggests calling his parents and decides to go home. Clete is furious at the inaction, but the cop threatens Clete for challenging him, stating, “We take care of our own in this town” (24). The bartender tells them again to leave. Will worries about how he will explain his wrist to his parents, never considering what he just unleashed on Clarence.

James, who is also black, arrives. Rowan takes him back to the construction site and shows him the body. Rowan doesn’t know if the workers called the police. They wonder about the identity of the body. Emboldened by the presence of her best friend, Rowan reaches for the skeleton. James stops her, reminding her that it’s a crime scene. Rowan insists that everyone involved is probably long-dead; James relents, and they investigate. The clothes are marked with what appears to be blood. James finds a rusted pistol, covered in lime, with something that they can’t read etched into it. Underneath the lime are eight notches. James wonders if they were carved by the killer or the victim. Rowan responds, “I’m guessing whoever killed this guy wasn’t interested in bragging about it. They wanted him erased, like he never even existed” (29). There are cracks on the skull, and James finds a stained brick covered in hair that fits the cracks. James sees a piece of leather in the body’s back pocket, but as Rowan grabs it, they hear the gate open outside. They quickly hide what they’ve found and Rowan shoves the leather into her pocket.

Will and Clete walk silently back from the outskirts of Tulsa to the residential neighborhoods. Will’s modest family home was once in an area with similar houses, but wealthy oilmen had surrounded them with enormous mansions, which Will’s father found offensive. Will’s mother, an Osage Indian, is wealthy, having been granted a share of profits from the oil fields on tribal land and inherited her mother and brother’s shares. When Will’s little sister, Nell, died of influenza, his father had persuaded his mother that they deserved their own large estate. Kathryn Tillman had bought a plot of land to build their own mansion. However, the US government had subsequently declared “that every Osage without a certificate of competency would need a white guardian to manage their money” (31), so Kathryn lost any right to control the house’s construction.

Will tries to sneak into the house, but his parents are waiting. His father grills him. Will admits that he was with Clete but claims that this was the first time he tried alcohol, and dizziness caused him to fall and hurt his wrist. Will’s father, Stanley Tillman, blames his wife, Kathryn Tillman, for spoiling Will. As punishment, Will’s father insists that his son will spend his free time working for him in his shop, ordering Will’s mother to call a doctor to set Will’s wrist. For a moment, Will’s mother smiles vaguely at her son as if she is proud but then looks sorrowful. Will feels terrible, thinking about his punishment and Addie’s contempt.

Rowan’s mother, Isis Chase, is a “public defender with a stubborn streak” (34) and impeccable fashion. She immediately asks why Rowan and James are at the construction site and where the crew went. Isis sees the skeleton and takes charge, speculating that the construction workers might have been undocumented immigrants and left to avoid the police. Rowan confesses that they touched the crime scene. Isis comments that Rowan must have roped James into the situation, but that they would both have to talk to the police. When a police officer arrives, he seems unpleasantly surprised to see a black family in one of the richer houses in the area. When Rowan’s white father, Tim Chase enters, the officer changes his demeanor. However, Tim defers to his wife; to Rowan’s relief, the police officer does as well.

The next morning, Will’s punishment begins in his father’s Victrola shop. His job is to play music and attract customers, which he discovers that he enjoys. There are many African Americans working downtown during the day, but at night, they all return to Greenwood, the black neighborhood. Jim Crow laws prohibit black people from shopping for themselves at white establishments. At the end of the day, Will’s father tells him to pack up one of the new electric Victrolas for a delivery. Will is surprised when they drive the machine to Greenwood. He is amazed to see that there are shops, nice houses, and well-dressed people on the sidewalk. Will and his father arrive at a house and knock. A little girl with brown skin stares out the window.

A well-dressed black woman opens the door, recognizing Will’s father and apologizing for the child, Esther, who isn’t permitted to answer the door for strangers. They bring the Victrola inside, and Will marvels at the luxury of the house as the woman fetches the money. Esther tells Will about her siblings, asking if he has any sisters. Will tells Esther that his sister is in heaven, and Esther offers to give Will one of her sisters. Will laughs. The woman returns to pay Stan, but he refuses to accept a tip. In the car, Stan says, “A sale’s a sale, William. […] If a Negro comes to me with money in his pocket, I’ll hold my nose and sell him a Victrola, Jim Crow be damned” (40). Stan promises to teach Will to drive the truck when his wrist heals if Will keeps the sale a secret from his mother.

At school, Will eludes Addie, but she eventually catches him regaling his classmates with a highly embellished story about how he broke his wrist. Will claims that he “saved an unnamed but ever-so-lovely young lady from the savage advances of a Negro cad” (42). Clete, who has been avoiding Will outside of school, chimes in occasionally and the story gets wilder each time Will tells it. Addie approaches quietly and suddenly slaps Will’s face. Weeping angrily, Addie says that Clarence was beaten so severely that he might die, “all because of a stupid little boy with a stupid little crush and too much [beer] in his belly” (42). Addie tells a shame-faced Will that she blames him as much as those who beat Clarence and that if Clarence died, it would be murder.

The police officers question Rowan and James but aren’t concerned that they contaminated such an old crime scene. At one officer’s request, Isis gives the contractor’s information, but adds that she hopes that they won’t need to talk to them. Understanding that Isis is concerned about their immigration status, the officer reassures her that they’re only interested in this case. The medical examiner photographs the body, promising to refer the case to Geneva Roop, a forensic anthropologist. Rowan doesn’t tell them about the piece of leather she had taken from the skeleton’s back pocket.

Alone in her room, Rowan discovers that the leather is a wallet when some change falls out. Rowan, who usually follows the rules, is nervous about being caught, so she waits to examine the wallet at a mall coffee shop. There are some children playing around a fountain, and she remembers falling into the fountain when she was a child. Her mother had saved her, but Rowan remembers it clearly as the first time she had ever seen her mother truly afraid. The wallet is empty other than $2.61. The newest coin was minted in 1921. Rowan receives a text from James about meeting tonight and texts back to agree.

Will has always found Vernon Fish terrifying. Vernon runs a tobacco store near Stan Tillman’s Victrola shop. Vernon enters the shop, calling Will a “half-breed” (47). Vernon informs Stan that he and his fellow Ku Klux Klansmen had been discussing the Tillmans, because Stan had taken “a squaw for a wife” (48). Because the Klan has plans to build themselves up in Tulsa, they need “upstanding business owners” (49) and are willing to overlook his “exotic choice of spouse” (48). Stan muses that perhaps they’re willing to overlook it because his wife is wealthy.

Acting offended, Vernon attempts to persuade Stan to join the KKK, calling Greenwood, the black section of town, “a blighted piece of Africa befouling our fair city” (48). Stan replies that Greenwood is one of the wealthiest black neighborhoods in the country, which Vernon insists proves that the black population needs to be humbled, adding that the KKK also regulates white people who are “abusing God’s laws” (49), such as Catholics and Jews. Stan states that he’s more interested in people’s money than their beliefs. Vernon turns to Will, annoyed when Will has no response. Vaguely, Vernon suggests that Will shouldn’t be out at night starting fights, and Will realizes with a shock that Vernon knows about the altercation with Clarence.

Rowan and James meet up at a downtown hangout. Rowan fills him in about the police investigation and shows James the wallet. James also notes that the newest coin was minted in 1921, the same year as a race riot in Tulsa. An incident between a black teen and a young white woman sparked riots that left most of Greenwood burned. No one knows how many African Americans were murdered. Angry white supremacists incarcerated black citizens until a white person arrived to “vouch for them” (52) and afterward, they had to wear green cards to show that they were “good Negro[s]” (52). Rowan wonders how her house, in what was a wealthy white neighborhood in 1921, could be involved in the riot.

James immediately researches on his phone, stating that between 1907 and 1930, 41 people—mainly black—were lynched in Oklahoma. Rowan says that she’s glad that racism isn’t such a problem today, which surprises James. James tells Rowan about Eduardo, an undocumented immigrant whom he’s tutoring. Eduardo’s employer cheated him, knowing that Eduardo couldn’t call the police. Rowan still insists that things are better now, and James brings up Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Harris, and Laquan McDonald—unarmed black men who were murdered. James argues that the system is rigged against people of color and accuses Rowan of living in a “rich-girl bubble” (53) and ignoring the racial inequalities around her. Upset and near tears, Rowan storms out and cries in her car.

Seeing Will’s reaction, Vernon understands that Will has not told his father the truth about his broken wrist. Vernon describes the fight at the Two-Knock without explicitly naming, saying that Clarence ran like a coward and describing how Vernon and a white mob did the police a favor by savagely beating Clarence. To Will, Vernon demands, “[Y]ou want to overcome your own mongrel blood and be a righteous man, don’t you?” (56), intimidating Will into agreeing. Stan stays silent. In the ensuing days, Will convinces himself that Clarence will survive and he can repair the situation if he apologizes to Addie, which he does at school. When Addie asks why, Will tells her that he’s sorry she’s upset.

Addie demands, “What about Clarence?” (58). Will agrees that he’s sorry that Clarence didn’t know better than to touch her and is shocked to see Addie’s disgust. Will convinces himself that Vernon was exaggerating and Addie was being unreasonable, feeling sorry for himself and his broken wrist. At the shop, Will notices that Stan sells to black customers over the phone but sometimes allows them in the back room, unwilling to lose money “just because someone fell a rung or two short of respectable,” and this is how Stan is “bested by an eighteen-year-old Negro boy armed with nothing more than a hundred dollars and a frown grave enough to shame an undertaker” (59).

The next morning, Rowan goes for a run, punishing herself and clearing her mind while she ponders what James said. This is her last moment of freedom before she starts her summer internship in a doctor’s office. She knows that James always forgives her. Later that morning, Rowan shows up to the medical office and learns that her internship no longer exists. Another doctor suggests an opening at the Jackson Clinic in “the part of town voted most likely to get you shot” (63). Rowan is glad for an opportunity to prove to James that she doesn’t just live in a “rich-girl bubble” and possibly even get a college application essay out of the experience.

Rowan drives across town and notes that there are three sections of Tulsa: the newer suburban area where people “escape the urban wilds” (63), midtown, where the Chases live, which is in the heart of the city and full of historical homes, and North Tulsa, which is the poor part of town. It is inhabited mostly by people of color, and Rowan has never been there alone. In Greenwood, she passes the spot where a police officer shot and killed Eric Harris, an unarmed black man, in 2015. At the clinic, the receptionist assumes that she is a patient. Rowan tries to explain, but he insists that she sign in. Defiantly, she writes her name and “HIRE ME” (65) on the sheet. The receptionist laughs, introducing himself as Truman Atwell, or Tru, and asks Rowan if she can type, answer phones, arrive on time, and not complain. Rowan hesitantly accepts the job, wondering if she really wants to work there.

For a week, Will notices a black teen outside the shop staring at the display window. Will, hoping to impress his father by making a sale, invites him through the back door. The teen hurries into the back as a young black child speeds by Will on roller skates. Stan doesn’t look up when Will reenters the store by the front door and heads to the back. The teen introduces himself as Joseph Goodhope, and when Will shakes his hand he notes, “I’d never shaken a Negro’s hand before. His grip felt like any other” (68). The roller-skating child appears next to Joseph, determined to stay and threatening to tell their mother if Joseph refuses.

Will comments that brothers must be difficult, and Joseph replies, “Sisters are worse” (68), reminding Will of his own dead sister. Indignant, the child pulls off her cap to reveal that she is a girl named Ruby. Joseph apologizes for his sister’s behavior, which his mother cannot tame. Nervously, Will allows Ruby to stay if they’re quiet. Will begins a sales pitch and Joseph asks about the newest model in the window. When Will starts to describe it, Joseph asserts that the new model is basically the previous model but rebranded. Stan enters, demanding to know why Joseph is there. Realizing that Joseph is a possible sale, Stan takes immediate interest and sends Will to the front.

The store is empty, so Will listens to the conversation in the back room. Will is shocked when Joseph negotiates with his father and Stan doesn’t fly into a rage. Joseph haggles boldly, commenting that the old machines will just go back to the factory at a loss, and they arrive at $145 including delivery. However, Joseph only has $100. He asks Stan for a payment plan, and Will is amazed when his father agrees. The terms are stringent. Joseph must pay $5 per week plus a $2.50 finance fee, and if he is so much as a minute late with a payment, he loses everything he has paid. Additionally, because selling to a black person is illegal, Stan refuses to give Joseph a receipt for his payments. Afterward, Will is pleased that his father seems a little less harsh with Will after he brought in a sale.

At the Jackson Clinic, Rowan is bored watching training videos, when she hears a man singing in an exam room. Ready for a break, Rowan goes to check on him. She meets Arvin, an older black man, who is delighted to see her. Arvin asks her for a cigarette, but a nurse, Miss Julie, enters and overhears, threatening to tell Dr. Woods. Miss Julie sends Rowan away when Arvin begins to cough uncontrollably, and Rowan hears the nurse comforting him. Later, Rowan works at the reception desk with Tru. Rowan struggles to keep up with the influx of patients, admiring Tru’s ability to run things smoothly, switching between Spanish and English as needed. Tru leaves an overwhelmed Rowan alone to get lunch, but when he returns, Rowan agrees that she’ll return tomorrow.

At home, Rowan finds a green van in the driveway with “State of Oklahoma Medical Examiner” on a handwritten sign. She remembers the promise of a forensic anthropologist, but the vehicle doesn’t seem very official. In the back house, Rowan finds a woman working intently and taking photos of the crime scene. Rowan introduces herself, and the woman allows her to watch. After a few awkward moments, the woman introduces herself as Geneva Roop. Rowan asks if she’s the anthropologist, but Geneva explains that she isn’t certified and doesn’t have a doctorate. Geneva tells Rowan what they can learn from the skeleton and asks Rowan about the wallet, having noticed that the back pocket was stretched. When Rowan retrieves it, she finds a piece of paper on the floor that had fallen out. It’s a receipt from Victory Victrola Shop made out to J. Goodhope with a running total of weekly payments. Impulsively, Rowan decides to keep the receipt.

A week later, Will is walking to the shop when Ruby surprises him. Will is annoyed, but Ruby is unperturbed. Suddenly, the wind blows Will’s hat off of his head and Ruby takes off running after it. Will chases her and she catches it, but narrowly misses being hit by a milk truck, causing the driver to swerve. The driver is angry, but Will claims that the incident was his fault and pays him for the broken milk bottles. Will drags a kicking and screaming Ruby away by the arm and shouts, “You don’t belong in this part of town, Ruby Goodhope. Go on back to Little Africa where you belong!” (88).

Ruby begins to cry, rubbing her now-bruised arm. Will feels terrible and apologizes, wiping Ruby’s tears. Ruby explains that she came to ask Will to give her brother a receipt for his payments, because it isn’t fair that Will’s father could cheat Joseph at any time. Will reluctantly agrees to give Joseph a handwritten receipt (pointing out that it would be meaningless to his father anyways) when he comes to make his first payment, and also to keep it a secret that Ruby asked. As Ruby walks away, Will wonders “how it was that a girl most of the world thought so little of could carry herself so proud” (88).

All afternoon at the shop, Will waits for Joseph to show up to make his payment. He worries that his father might be hoping that Joseph won’t show and he can keep the $100 down payment. However, Joseph made his payment before Will arrived, and Will is surprised to discover that he is relieved. The following week, unwilling to anger Ruby, Will skips his last class and shows up to the shop early to catch Joseph. However, he also secretly hopes to see Ruby again. Vernon Fish catches Will and questions him. Will lies, claiming that he skipped class because his history teacher doesn’t know anything, which Vernon appreciates, saying, “World’s full of saps who think book learnin’s the same as a real education” (91).

Vernon gives Will the package he’s carrying and demands that Will follow him to his shop. Once inside, Vernon proudly tells him to open the package. Inside is a KKK robe and hood. When he catches Will’s disdainful expression, Will mumbles that he would be honored to wear such a robe. Vernon retorts that only fully white men are allowed. Then, promising to “show [Will] what the Klan really means” (94), Vernon retrieves a pistol from the back and points it at Will’s chest. Sneering, Vernon introduces Will to the gun, which he has named Maybelle.

On Rowan’s second day of work, she hasn’t had a chance to tell her parents about the new job. While driving, Rowan sees Arvin on the sidewalk and pretends not to see him when he waves. Rowan doesn’t know why she’s ignoring him but realizes that although he was nothing but kind, Arvin made her nervous outside of work. Arvin tries to catch up, his expression turning dejected when Rowan drives off. Rowan wonders if James was right about her. At work, Tru says that Arvin is a good person. Dr. Woods gives him bus tokens so Arvin can have his asthma and diabetes monitored weekly. Tru explains that Arvin likes to hang around the clinic because most people in the world treat him like he doesn’t exist, making Rowan feel terrible. Rowan texts James, but he doesn’t respond.

Apparently, the doctor who sent Rowan to the clinic called Dr. Woods to say that Rowan wanted to intern with her, so she meets with Dr. Woods in her office. The diplomas on the doctor’s wall show that she is highly accomplished. Dr. Woods asks Rowan if she wants to go into medicine, but Rowan says that she is hoping to figure that out. Dr. Woods approves of this response and decides that Rowan can start shadowing the next day. Tru agrees that she can end her days early if she works through lunch. After work, Rowan drives out to James’ house, even though he hasn’t responded to her text. Rowan panics when no one answers the door, but then James pulls into the driveway.  

The two friends hug and apologize to each other and all is forgiven. In James’ room, Rowan shows him the receipt from the wallet. They can’t find a record online of the Victrola store, but Geneva figured out that what was etched on the gun was the name Maybelle. James comments that during the 1921 riot, white men would search houses to make sure no one was harboring any hidden black people. They wonder if someone discovered an African American hiding in Rowan’s back house and buried the body. Rowan points out that a secret burial wouldn’t have been necessary because the killer wouldn’t have been arrested. They are both disturbed by this, but Rowan needs to get home because her morning will start so early. They make plans to go to a concert on Friday night.

Will is shaking after leaving Vernon’s shop, not because he has a gun—most people, including Will, own guns—but because Vernon pointed it straight at Will’s chest. Vernon told Will in graphic detail about the three notches carved in the side of the gun, one for each person he’d killed, each of them innocent black men. Will wants to believe that Vernon was lying, but he knows that he isn’t. Heading to work, Will spots Joseph and tries to give him the receipt. Because the receipt was written by Will and not his father, Joseph politely refuses. Taken aback, Will tells him that the receipt can protect him by showing what he’s paid, but Joseph responds, “The rules aren’t the same for me as they are for you. […] Don’t you know that, Will?” (103).

Joseph excuses himself and explains that he’s on his way to a funeral. When Will asks who died, Joseph says, “Nobody important, Mr. William. Only a Negro boy like me” (104). Two days later, Will goes to the Dobbs family home to see Addie. The Dobbs were once wealthy and lived in a mansion but lost everything and moved to a smaller house. Will is preoccupied with thoughts about the funeral, knowing it was for Clarence Banks. A black woman, clearly in mourning, answers the door and lets Will in to wait for Addie.

When Addie enters, she is also weary and sad. Addie confirms Clarence’s death. She asks if Will is happy that Clarence is dead, and Will is surprised with his own sincerity when he says that he isn’t. Addie wants Will to ask God for forgiveness, not her. She explains that Clarence planned to leave for Texas to learn how to be a cowboy. Clarence’s mother, Marie, moved in with the Dobbs family after her husband died when Addie and Clarence were young children, and they grew up together as friends. Desperately, Will asserts, “I never meant for him to die” (107), but Addie responds, “You never meant for him not to” (107). To Will’s surprise, Addie apologizes both for blaming Will and for hitting him at school.

Addie blames herself for Clarence’s death because she should have listened when Clarence told her that they shouldn’t be seen together. They both knew that Clarence’s life could be in danger for being out with a white woman. Will insists that it was his fault, but Addie tells Will that if he hadn’t started trouble, someone else would have. She informs him that his friend Clete recently started a letter-writing campaign to advocate for a junior branch of the Ku Klux Klan in Tulsa. Will is unsurprised, because he knows that Clete may find black women attractive, but he despises black men. Addie blames herself again and calls herself selfish, putting her friend in harm’s way for something so frivolous. Will leaves, knowing that their relationship will always feel unfinished.

The next morning, Rowan’s father goes running with her. Rowan realizes that she needs to tell him about her job but worries that her parents might be disappointed. As they run, Tim comments that he is disconcerted to learn that a murder victim was buried at his family home for his entire life, fishing for information about Rowan’s state of mind. Rowan reassures her dad that her conversations with Geneva made it seem more scientific than tragic. Rowan attempts to surreptitiously ask about their home’s history, but Tim sees through this and offers to get the title so she can find the name of the original owner. Rowan finally confesses that her internship fell through and is immensely relieved when her father is proud and says that she reminds him of her mother.

All Rowan needs now for peace of mind is to make things right with Arvin, but Arvin doesn’t show up in the clinic that day. However, Rowan finds that she otherwise enjoys her day with Dr. Woods. The majority of the day is fairly routine, helping patients with their medications and giving advice for a healthy lifestyle. Afterward, Dr. Woods asks Rowan what she saw. After Rowan describes their day, Dr. Woods comments that the job isn’t exciting. Rowan thinks for a moment and admits that it wasn’t exciting like a medical drama on television, “but if [exciting] means doing something that seems small now but can make a big difference in the long run, then it was” (113). Dr. Woods appreciates this answer and is glad Rowan is there. When Rowan leaves, she is elated to have actually found a possible direction in life.

At home, Geneva sifts through the dirt at the burial site. Geneva is generally indifferent toward Rowan’s presence, and Rowan looks at the items that Geneva has already found: two rusted nails, a button, and a human tooth. Geneva explains to Rowan that the tooth’s intact roots show that it was likely pulled or knocked out rather than decayed. Additionally, it doesn’t belong to the skeleton. Geneva determines that the skeleton is a male, about six feet tall, and strong but likely not a laborer. Also, he broke his wrist when he was young, but the break healed cleanly. Geneva sent the gun and a leather holster to an expert. She sent a tooth from the skeleton to a lab to confirm the skeleton’s ancestry, as she is nearly certain the man was black.

As the weeks pass by, Will continues to work at his father’s shop, which Stan admits isn’t “harming [his] bottom line any” (116). However, Will starts to question the way his father does business. He notices that Stan will deliver a Victrola to a white customer and trust them to pay their balance, but if a black customer is even a dollar short of what they owe when Stan shows up to deliver, he takes the machine and leaves. In fact, Joseph is the only African American who has convinced Stan to extend a payment plan. Will wonders why Stan won’t just deliver his Victrola because Joseph pays consistently. However, Stan seems to view each on-time payment as an affront. Regardless, Will keeps his running receipt of Joseph’s payments, knowing his father would think it was ridiculous.

Ruby starts showing up on Tuesdays while Will is mopping the floors at the store, and she asks about the receipt because she knows that her brother declined to take it. Ruby asks for it but Will refuses, because his father would be in trouble for ignoring Jim Crow laws. However, every week, Ruby shows up and Will comes to enjoy her presence. Ruby talks about herself and her stories of stubborn bravery and obstinateness but also talks about her brother. For instance, Joseph asked the girl he loved, Eliza Clark, to prom but was rejected. When Joseph was 11, he worked and saved up to buy Ruby a Raggedy Ann doll, which he then dyed with tea so the doll would look more like Ruby. Ruby tells Will that peach pie is her favorite, especially the pie that her mother bakes. Will doesn’t mention that peach pie is his favorite, too.

When Will finally allows Ruby to see the receipt, she stands close and he notices that the way she smells reminds him of his own departed sister, Nell, making him a little less sad about her loss. As Ruby leaves, Will suddenly warns her to avoid the tobacco store and Vernon Fish at all costs. Ruby is confused for a moment, then pinches Will’s arm hard and teases, “Can’t boss me, Will Tillman” (120), before dashing out. Will starts to feel more optimistic when his wrist heals and his cast is removed in May. One day before school, Clete finds Will and asks if he has any money. Will, who hasn’t stirred up trouble in a while, realizes that he needs to have some fun and tells Clete that he does. The two teens skip school and head to the Arkansas River.

On their way there, Clete suddenly punches Will’s shoulder hard. Clete plays it off as friendly ribbing, but Will understands that “that punch was for everything that hadn’t been right between [them] since the Two-Knock” (121). Will feels that he deserves to punch Clete rather than vice-versa, and considers asking if Clete is really getting involved with the Klan. However, Will doesn’t want to ruin a day when he feels so free. At the river, Will and Clete fish on the train tracks, mostly in silence because speaking might just lead to conflict. Clete brags that he has a girlfriend named Eunice who is prettier than Addie and has also never slapped him. This infuriates Will, who almost punches Clete, when a train rushes toward them and forces them to move.

After a moment, Clete suggests that they visit Eunice and promises to introduce Will to her friend Imogene. Will, ready to leave, agrees. As they walk silently, Will realizes that he has outgrown his old friend, and that perhaps he and Clete never had much in common to begin with. In fact, Will prefers Ruby’s company to Clete’s. They arrive, and Will follows Clete upstairs to a parlor, where a woman recognizes Clete and greets him with, “I didn’t expect to see you back so soon, Cletus!” (123). When Clete asks for Eunice, the woman tells him that she’s taking a bath and asks if Clete would like to spend time with Viola instead. Clete, red-faced, insists that they will wait for Eunice and Imogene. The woman tells Clete that Eunice’s time will cost $3 each, and it becomes clear that this is a brothel and the women are sex workers. She calls Clete “a good customer” (123).

After another awkward silence, Clete asks Will to borrow $3, and Will realizes that this is the only reason Clete invited him out. Without a word, Will hands him the money as Eunice enters. Clete introduces Will to Eunice and then pulls her out of the room. Immediately, Will makes his escape to kill time until he can go to work. After the Victrola shop closes, Will’s father fulfills his promise to teach Will how to drive his truck now that his wrist has healed. That night in bed, Will thinks about Clete, who has turned out not to be a real friend, and Ruby, who he now truly cares about. He considers Joseph, who has become a real person through Ruby’s stories, and what happened to Clarence, noting that all of this self-reflection might be “enough to make a righteous man out of me after all. But in the end, I never did have a chance to find out” (125).

Rowan is disturbed to learn that the reason Geneva believes the skeleton belonged to a black man is just from the skull shape. This sounds like racist generalizing to Rowan, which makes her uncomfortable. However, she reflects on her middle-school biology class where she learned that dark skin is an evolutionary protection against the sun, which explains why people near the equator and their descendants had more melanin. Rowan wonders if there couldn’t be other physical differences, “ones that ran deeper than skin” (126). This leaves her feeling dirty, and Rowan wonders what her skeleton would tell someone like Geneva. Rowan is mixed-race, but in Oklahoma, miscegenation laws prohibited interracial marriage between white and black people until 1967, so evolutionary features associated with race would have been kept relatively distinct. Finally, Rowan decides that the murdered man deserves justice regardless of skin color, although his race might help her and James discover his identity.

Later, Rowan is pleasantly surprised that her mother is proud that she is working at the Jackson Clinic. In fact, Isis is on the clinic’s board of directors and went to high school with Dr. Woods. Rowan’s mother tells her about A. C. Jackson, who the clinic is named for. Dr. Jackson was “one of the best surgeons in the country, black or white” (128) but was shot during the 1921 riot. No one knows whether Dr. Jackson was targeted or if those who murdered him even knew or cared who he was. Isis explains that little is known about what happened during the riot aside from the burning of Greenwood. Many African Americans went missing that night, including Rowan’s great-great-uncle. Because Isis rarely talks about her family, Rowan presses her for more information.

Isis explains, “It’s history, Ro. The messy kind where truth gets stretched out over thousands of unwritten stories” (129). Even the term “race riot” is likely a misnomer, because it conjures images of angry black people enacting destruction. In reality, if anyone was rioting, it was the white people who were burning, looting, and murdering, determined to rid Tulsa of any African American “with the audacity to believe they deserved as much dignity and respect as a white person” (130). Isis tells Rowan that they protected her from racism as much as possible, but that working at the Jackson Clinic was a good thing for her because it’s time for Rowan to learn. Finally, Isis says:

The lives that ended that night mattered. It was a mistake for this city to try to forget, and it’s an even bigger one to pretend everything’s fine now. Black men and women are dying today for the same reasons they did in 1921. And we have to call that out, Rowan. Every time (130).