“Don’t be so rude,” Dodie said to the child in response to her question. Dodie struck Anna as sullen and quiet, and Anna wondered if she was always that way or if it was her presence that brought out that side of the girl. Was it as odd for them to have a white woman at their table as it was for her to be there? It felt strange to be the different one in the group, she thought. Being different could lead to paranoia. She kept wondering, Are they saying that or acting that way because I’m white or is this the way they always are? Silly thinking, she decided, and not very useful.

“Not many farms up north, I guess?” Jesse’s mother asked.

“Oh, yes, there are plenty of farms up north,” Anna said. “As a matter of fact, New Jersey, where I live, is called the ‘Garden State.’ But I live in a town not too far from New York City. We get our food from the grocery store.”

“You’re a city girl for sure,” Aunt Jewel said with a smile. She struck Anna as the sharp blade in the family. The smart one. Well, perhaps they were all smart, but Anna thought Jewel must be better educated than Jesse’s parents. She spoke better English and there was something more worldly about her. Anna remembered Jesse telling her that his aunt was a midwife for the colored community. She’d probably been educated as a nurse, then. Maybe Aunt Jewel would be the one to understand why Jesse’s talent needed to be nurtured.

Anna felt Nellie’s gaze riveted on her and she caught the girl’s eye and smiled.

“You so pretty,” Nellie said. “I wish I had hair like that. And your eyelashes.” She touched her own lashes. “Yours is so thick.”

“Well, I think your hair is adorable in all those little braids,” Anna said.

“You got a piece of collard in your teeth,” Nellie said, pointing to her own two front teeth.

“Don’t be so rude!” Dodie said again.

“No, that’s fine.” Anna laughed, then worked the offending piece of collard free with her tongue. She regretted taking so many collards onto her plate. She’d never eaten them before and hoped never to eat them again. “Thank you for telling me, Nellie,” she said.

“And you know what else?” Nellie asked.

“Nellie…” her mother warned.

Nellie ignored her. “Dodie stealed some of Mama’s toilet water when she went out last night.”

“Did not,” Dodie said. “I borrowed it.”

“How you gonna give it back?” Nellie sniped.

Jesse put his arm around his little sister. “Why you wanna stir things up?” he asked her, his voice soft, and the little girl’s eyes instantly filled.