One Crazy Summer Chapter 21 Summary

Eating Crow

  • The next day, it's 9:00AM and they're still at the house.
  • Cecile doesn't like this one bit.
  • Delphine explains that she's scared that the girls might get shot at the Center.
  • Surprisingly, Cecile responds pretty rationally, saying things get dangerous when guns are involved, but so long as no one points a gun at you, and no one puts a gun in your hand, you're okay.
  • Delphine concedes to go back to the Center, but definitely not to the rally.
  • To this end, she embodies Big Ma and uses her phrase that it's "a pot of boiling trouble cookin'" (21.18).
  • Cecile scolds Delphine for talking back to her, though mostly she's upset that Delphine sounds like Big Ma. Cecile doesn't like Big Ma very much—or at all.
  • Delphine dreads going back to the Center.
  • She proudly said she wasn't returning, and here she is, the very next day.
  • They totally told her so.
  • Delphine calls her situation "eating crow," which sounds even worse than another night of Lo Mein.
  • Luckily, everyone's pretty nice to Delphine. Sister Mukumbu and Sister Pat act as if nothing happened, and even Eunice, who mentions the outburst from the day before, doesn't say anything mean.
  • She just sits down and chillaxes with Delphine, watching the young kids play little kid games.
  • The two older sisters start bonding a little, particularly over their mutual disgust for Hirohito.
  • Turns out, Eunice ain't half bad. She's just an oldest sister like Delphine, trying to look out for her family.