How It All Goes Down
The story begins with the narrator hanging out in her yard, waiting for her daughter Dee who's coming to visit. Even though we've just met the lady, we climb right inside her head and start watching one of her fantasies. No, not that kind of fantasy. She's just picturing what it would be like to reunite with Dee on a TV talk show. We also meet and learn a bit about the narrator's other daughter, Maggie, a shy kid with burn scars on her body. Ouch.
The narrator chats with us readers some more and we learn that she's an African American woman who grew up in the early twentieth century. Finally Dee rolls into the driveway with a dude. Dee, who is dressed to the nines, and the dude (an Arab guy who's name is Hakim-a-barber) greet the narrator and Maggie with fancy Arabic and African salutations. Dee announces that she's changed her name to Wangero (an African name) in order to fight her oppressors and she and her mother have a little chat about all that.
The narrator's made a pretty big spread for the occasion so everyone sits down to eat. As they're eating, Dee becomes totally obsessed with a butter churn in the corner of the yard that was made by her uncle. She wants to take parts of it and use them to decorate her own place. Later on, Dee goes into the house and finds two really cool handmade quilts as she's rummaging through her mother's trunk. Wow, she seems to think, this place is better than IKEA, brimming with charming and quirky items that she can use to spruce up her apartment.
She asks her mother if it's okay to take the quilts. Sorry, the narrator tells her, she's planning on giving them to Maggie. Dee throws an epic tantrum and tries to convince Mom that she deserves them more, but the narrator prevails, taking the quilts from Dee and giving them to Maggie.
Dee leaves in a huff with Hakim, throwing out a few last condescending remarks before taking off. The narrator and Maggie watch them ride away, but don't seem too broken up over their departure. Instead they just chill out together, relaxing in their yard.