Keesha's House

Jason is a star high-school basketball player, and he’ll likely earn a basketball scholarship for college. As Stephie’s pregnancy preoccupies him, Jason misses a free throw, losing his team the game. His coach thinks Stephie is “lovely,” and he wonders if they’re dating. Jason thinks about the norms of the coach’s world, where a person went to college and then got married. Such a script doesn’t apply to Jason. If Jason became a parent, he believes his basketball career would vanish. He’d have to get a job and attend college part-time. When he mentioned abortion, Stephie claimed Jason wanted to “kill” the baby so he could be a basketball hero.

On a rainy day, Keesha spots Stephie, who holds her book in front of her body and wears a bulky coat even when the weather is nice. Keesha senses Stephie is scared, and she predicts Stephie will show up at the house.

Keesha remembers when she ran away from her abusive father, who has a substance use disorder with alcohol. She remembers when her mother was alive and helped Tobias, her little brother, get through an earache. Keesha’s mom is warm, but her dad is angry, and Keesha doesn’t want to live with him.

Dontay hangs out at the house of a friend, Carmen. Carmen lives with her grandmother, and the grandmother calls Dontay “son” and gives him food if he’s hungry. Dontay calls his foster father for a ride home, but his father thinks Dontay should be able to get back on his own. Dontay’s caseworker describes the foster family as an affluent dream, but Dontay thinks they’re strict. The “real son” has his own bathroom and a key to the house. If Dontay arrives past dinner time, the family won’t feed him. Carmen gives Dontay a ride home, but it’s midnight, so Dontay waits in the backyard.

Carmen turns 16 in seven months, but she knows how to drive, so she gives Dontay a ride home. On her way back, she turns left on Main Street, and police stop her and take her back to her grandmother’s house. Carmen gets a DUI: She predicts her punishment will be two months in juvenile detention.

Carmen’s mom and boyfriend left for Cincinnati. Carmen thinks her mother will return, but after five months, Carmen is losing hope. The thought of juvenile detention adds to Carmen’s bleak outlook. Everything will be different when she gets out; she’ll feel like driving until she finds a true home.

Harris plans to go to the winter dance with a boy he likes, and he tells his parents about him. Harris’s anti-gay father kicks Harris out of the house. Harris’s father won’t support Harris if Harris doesn’t have the “respect” to be “normal.” Harris considers asking a girl to the winter dance and bringing the girl to meet his parents. He’d tell them the boy only represented a phase. The girl declines, and Harris drops his plan. He doesn’t want to pretend to be a different person, and his parents wouldn’t have believed him.

Harris doesn’t go to the dance. He realizes he probably wouldn’t have danced with the boy if they had gone together. Harris broke up with the boy, and he doesn’t want another boyfriend.

Katie stays at Keesha’s house on Jackson Street. She sleeps in a sleeping bag in the basement, where there’s a room with a lock. If Keesha wants to talk to Katie, she knocks, and if Katie wants to let her in, it’s Katie’s choice.

When Katie lived with her mother, her stepfather entered Katie’s room with her mother’s permission and abused her. Once, she knocked the trophy off his gun safe, and he twisted her arm. Katie’s mother comes to Keesha’s house, and Katie tells her mother that she can’t live with her mother if her husband is there. Her mother leaves.

Stephie compares breakfast at her house to breakfast at Jason’s house, where the environment is calm. If Jason’s brother leaves out juice, no one cares. No one forces conversation. At her house, breakfast must be done by eight. Stephie’s mother always wakes up and prepares coffee and pancakes or bran muffins. Stephie thinks “home” is a synonym for “perfect.”

After his basketball game, Jason goes to Stephie’s house, but she’s not there. Her brother says they thought Stephie was at Jason’s house. If she’s over there late, Jason and his family let her sleep on the couch. At three o’clock, Stephie’s father appears at Jason’s house. He’s worried. Recently, she’s been coming home late, and he thinks she’s looked worried. Jason tells her father about Stephie’s pregnancy, and then Jason drives around looking for her.

Katie thinks of her basement room as paradise, and she offers to pay rent. Keesha doesn’t see much of Katie because Katie works a lot. Technically, Keesha’s house belongs to Joe, who’s older, and Keesha wonders if Katie thinks Joe will make her pay “some other way.” One of Keesha’s ex-boyfriends thought the girls in the house were having sex with Joe. Joe isn’t predatory: He believes everyone deserves a safe space. Once, Keesha made his bed for him, and Joe told her not to. Keesha’s space in Joe’s house is essential, allowing her to attend school, work, eat, and sleep.

Dontay won’t return to his foster family. He believes they’ll yell at him for staying out late. Dontay will scream back, and then his caseworker will take him to Child and Youth Services (CYS), where young people wait for foster families. The kids act “hard” during the day but cry at night. Dontay would prefer to live on his own. He knows a few places he can stay, including Jermaine and Dan’s house.

Dontay’s mother and father will wonder why he missed visiting hours, but seeing them in jail makes Dontay upset. Dontay doesn’t say why his parents are in jail, but his mother is “sad,” and his father thinks their lawyer was incompetent.

Carmen claims she wasn’t drunk or aware of a partly smoked blunt under the backseat. She speculates that it could have been there since her grandmother bought the car five months ago. Carmen believes police wouldn’t have stopped her if she was white or an adult. Carmen’s grandmother hasn’t visited her, but her probation officer visited for 10 minutes, and she’s disappointed with Carmen. Carmen wishes she had stopped drinking in the seventh grade—the first time she got caught.

Carmen speaks to a “white girl” who has been in juvenile detention for 13 weeks. The girl doesn’t think about “home” anymore, and she advises Carmen to stop thinking about her grandmother. Carmen starts a letter to her grandmother but rips it up.

Harris receives an anti-gay note in his locker, and during lunch, someone pushes him into a table. His lunch hits a freshman girl who’s eating by herself. Harris apologizes, but the girl acts like it’s her fault and moves to another table.

Harris thinks about how people try to fit into “slots” or labels, like “freaks,” “jocks,” or bullies. Harris says his slot is undesirable, and people would rather die than be gay. Harris doesn’t want to die, and he pictures himself living out of his car and working at the Pancake House.

The bus schedule changes, so now Katie doesn’t have time to change into her employee uniform after school. Instead, she’ll have five minutes to change in the employee restroom. Katie can’t look for a new job, nor can she quit school or buy a car. She speaks to her boss, but he’s unsympathetic. Katie resigns herself to grueling days of work and school.