Chapter 1
"Yeah, well, he went out like a man," Rise said. "Yo, Rise, the brother got wasted in a drive-by," I said. (1.19-1.20)
Chapter 2
"Eventually you reach manhood, then you got to go through or turn around and go back," [said Rise.] "This isn't about manhood," C.J. said. "This is about crime." (2.43-2.44)
Chapter 3
Rise had always been taller than me […]. Then last year I saw that I had caught up with him and could look him right in the eye. I stood next to him and he saw what was going on, but just sniffed...
Chapter 4
Near the curb a little girl was beating her doll and screaming at it, and I nudged C.J. for him to look. The girl was about eight and skinny. Her hair wasn't combed. (4.15)
Chapter 6
One of the things about the hood was that there was this anxious bit with the cops. Everybody knew we had to have cops around so the thugees wouldn't rule, but we had to be all like "don't be in my...
Chapter 7
"I ain't got nothing to lose, man. […] I don't care about a thing. Life doesn't mean nothing to me." (7.30)
Chapter 8
"One day I seen me standing in the cloud by the side of the track waiting for my train to come. All I was getting was colder and colder and my train never did come. What I'm thinking now is that I...
Chapter 9
"She's got her heart on me going to college, but that's two years away. I think she hopes that I give up the music." (9.22)
Chapter 10
"If a white cop sees you with a cap gun, he's going to use it as an excuse to shoot you," White Clara said. (10.6)
Chapter 11
"Connie was always talking about how she was going to be a doctor. Now she says she's probably going to be working right here next to her mama. That's the way it goes, man." (11.67)
Chapter 12
It scared me. The same way that seeing a dead kid lying in a coffin scared me. Seeing dead kids scared me because it made me know I could die. And seeing Rise on the deal made me feel the same way....
Chapter 13
They ran down a thing about how one of these days it's going to be a real drive-by and one of us would be lying in a pool of blood crying for his mama. (13.35)
Chapter 14
"You want me to do all the cleaning and cooking, I'll do it!" He raised his voice some more. "I'll quit my job and stay home and be the housewife, because I sure can't be no man around this house."...
Chapter 15
"You're becoming a different person," I imagined myself saying. "Somebody I almost don't know." (15.11)
Chapter 16
"He called me a f*****," C.J. said. (16.41)
Chapter 17
My eye was hurting; I was mad at Dad for being afraid for me, even though in my heart I knew I was afraid, too. (17.55)
Chapter 18
I had read all the bits about black men not being able to express themselves and turning to violence to show their anger, but it didn't mean boo to me when it was me being hit. (18.1)
Chapter 19
"I don't know," I said. "If I don't come, will you think I'm weak?" (19.31)
Chapter 20
Some of the hustle was hardworking folks chasing their behind-closed-doors dreams. Others were the people who had blown their dreams and were just chasing whatever life they could get at. (20.1)
Chapter 21
Mom wanted us to pray together, and I could see Dad didn't want to—he wanted to be tough because that's what he understood. (21.81)
Chapter 22
"Yo, Jesse. I'm scared, man. I'm so scared!" (22.55)
Chapter 23
The paper said the police found him hiding on the roof of his house. I was glad to know they got him, but I was mad when they put in that he had been crying when they took him to jail, as if crying...