One Crazy Summer

Despite the overwhelming mess in the kitchen, the girls do their best to clean it up that night and the next day. While they are working, they come across a poem written by Cecile called “I Birthed a Nation.” It reminds them of their "la-la" song, and they decide to recite the poem at the rally. They believe that the poem, which is about Mother Africa losing her children, reflects Cecile's experience of losing her children. Delphine doesn't remind her younger sisters that Cecile left them, rather than lost them. 

The girls are frightened when they hear a knock at the door, but the knockers turn out to be Hirohito and his mother, Mrs. Woods, who has made dinner for them. Mrs. Woods tells the girls that they have to stick together since they all have loved ones who were unjustly arrested.

Delphine makes a conscious decision not to tell her father or Big Ma about Cecile's arrest. She doesn’t want to confirm Big Ma’s poor opinion of Cecile, and she still wants the chance to get to know her mother better. Sister Mukumbu tells Delphine that the girls can stay with her, but the sisters have already agreed to stay with the Woods family.

When Delphine asks Sister Mukumbu if she knows why Cecile was arrested, Sister Mukumbu tells her that the police were really after the Black Panthers who were arrested with her. She also suggests that Cecile was arrested because the police don’t like Cecile spreading information through her printing press. Delphine doesn’t believe this, especially since she knows that the Black Panthers had to convince Cecile to volunteer her printing services.

At the center, Crazy Kelvin encourages the girls to stay strong. Fern barks at him and calls him “Fido.” She also asks him, “What’s wrong with this picture?” (180), which is the same question Kelvin asked when he confronted Fern about Miss Patty Cake. Fern once again tells her sisters that she saw something on their trip to San Francisco.

The children at the center spend the rest of the day asking store owners in their community to put up posters that advertise the rally. The children receive many different answers. Unlike the manager at the Safeway, where Delphine shops regularly, Mean Lady Ming says yes. As a result, Delphine decides that the girls will eat at Ming's from now on.

Delphine finds that living in the same house as Hirohito is a little uncomfortable. However, Hirohito, an only child, loves having temporary sisters with whom he can play. At the Woods’ house, Delphine is able to read her books as much as she wants. When Hirohito asks Delphine to ride his go-kart, she is torn between her desire to ride it and her desire to appear too mature for him or his go-kart. However, she eventually agrees to ride the go-kart when her sisters start laughing at her and Hirohito accuses her of being too afraid to ride it. Outside, Hirohito shows Delphine how to control the go-kart. When she finally rides it, Delphine “[s]creamed and hiccupped and laughed like [her] sisters. Like [she] was having the time of [her] life, flying down that glorious hill” (190).

When Delphine sees a large crowd at the rally—“a grand Negro, well, a grand black spectacle” (192)—she feels excited and proud of the work that she and the other children at the center did to spread the word about it. After several presentations by other children, the Gaither sisters perform Cecile’s poem, “I Birthed a Nation.” They receive applause every time they add the word “black” to their mother’s words. Delphine believes that their recitation of the poem unites them with Cecile, even though Cecile is not there to hear them.

After the girls’ recitation, Fern refuses to leave the stage. Instead, she recites her own poem, “A Pat on the Back for a Good Puppy.” The poem is about what she saw on the girls’ trip to San Francisco. According to Fern, Crazy Kelvin had an intense conversation with an Oakland police officer, who patted Kelvin on the back at the end of their conversation. The crowd loves the poem, and police officers have to escort Kelvin from the park to protect him from the Black Panthers who surround him.

After being released from jail, Cecile surprises the girls at the rally. She is proud of them. Cecile praises Vonetta for her loud voice and Fern, now nicknamed “Little Nzila,” for her performance. After that, Cecile starts speaking with a group of Black Panthers. She gives the girls permission to hang out with their friends since they will be flying back to Brooklyn the next day. Delphine catches up with Eunice until Hirohito asks her if she wants to ride his go-kart. Eunice is taken aback by his question, and she teases Hirohito and Delphine. She tells Hirohito that she is shocked that he would let a girl ride his go-kart and asks him if he likes Delphine. When Hirohito’s only response is “So” (193), Delphine is relieved and says the same thing.

At Cecile's home that night, the girls tell Cecile everything that happened after her arrest. Delphine joins her mother in the kitchen after the other two girls fall asleep. Cecile tells Delphine that she called the girls’ father after she was released from jail. She asks Delphine, who is supposed to be “the smart one” (205), why she didn’t bother to call him for a full seven days, despite her arrest. Cecile reminds Delphine that her job is to look out for Vonetta and Afua (Cecile calls Fern “Afua” for some reason). 

Delphine tells Cecile that she was afraid Big Ma would think that the arrest would confirm every bad thing she has said about Cecile. She also points out that she is only 11 and has to care for her sisters because Cecile does not. Rather than getting angry, Cecile tells Delphine about her life before her marriage to Delphine’s father.

Cecile’s only family were an aunt and her mother, the latter of whom died when Cecile was 11. Her aunt took her in after her mother died, but she forced Cecile into unpaid labor. Cecile's aunt kicked her out when Cecile was 16. Homeless, Cecile spent her days in the public library reading poetry, and she spent her nights on the streets. Cecile got through the nights by reciting the poems she had read during the day. 

One day, Louis Gaither found a sick and hungry Cecile sitting on a park bench, and he took her in. Cecile cooked and cleaned for him and gave birth to Delphine and Vonetta. Big Ma attended to her during the births. The two women didn’t get along, so Big Ma only visited from Alabama when it was time to oversee the births. Fern was born so quickly that Delphine had to help Cecile through the birth. Cecile tells Delphine that Delphine's life was a good one, and it is better than what Cecile could have provided for her on her own. 

Delphine has no memory of the birth of Fern. For the first time, she thinks about herself, the loss in her own life, and how no one ever thanks her for what she does. She gets angry and asks Cecile if it’s true that Cecile left because she couldn’t give Fern the name she wanted to give her. Cecile tells Delphine that she thought about taking Delphine with her because Delphine was quiet and never demanded anything from her, but Cecile had no money to provide for her daughter. Before Cecile left, she gave Vonetta a cookie and some milk, and then she put Miss Patty Cake in Afua’s crib. Cecile tells Delphine, “Be eleven while you can” (209). That night, Delphine tries to process everything her mother has told her, and she wonders about Cecile calling Fern “Afua.”

In the morning, the girls slowly get out of bed despite their early flight back to Brooklyn. When Cecile yells at them to get up, she calls her youngest daughter “Fern” instead of "Little Girl” as she usually does. Delphine, on the other hand, calls Fern “Afua” and tells her that Afua is her true name. Delphine ignores Cecile's fussing about the new name. When they arrive at the airport, Cecile calls their father to let him know that the girls are on their way home. While Cecile is on the phone, a white man tries to take a picture of the girls. Cecile angrily stops him, which is the first time she has ever defended her daughters. 

When it’s time to board the plane, Delphine feels the unfamiliar sensation of her mother watching her as she leaves. Just before they board, Fern/Afua runs back and pounces on Cecile for a hug. The two older girls join her. Delphine realizes that embracing her mother with her sisters is what she needed all along.