The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

In the present, in Portland, summer progresses. Grandma neglects her garden and neglects Rachel as she continues to drink sherry to forget the pain of Aunt Loretta’s absence. Rachel sometimes pours out her bottles or hides them, but Miss Verle supplies Grandma with replacement bottles. Rachel and Grandma live mostly emotionally separate from each other, but one day, Grandma shows Rachel her coin collection and tells her that Drew has a summer job for her at the Salvation Army. They talk about Rachel’s father. Rachel explains that back in Chicago, before the day Nella and the children died, her father had called to tell her that he was coming to bring all the children back to Germany. Rachel cannot understand why he never arrived, but Grandma tells her that he did arrive, but “[h]e just came too late that day” (183).

At the Salvation Army, on the first day of her internship, Rachel meets a blonde-haired, green-eyed boy named Jesse. Originally from New York City, Jesse is going to college in the fall, and he tells Rachel that his work at the center for the homeless helped him get into college. Jesse’s mother is from Norway, so they talk about Denmark and Rachel’s ability to speak Danish. Jesse and Rachel go to the recreation room at the center to eat lunch, and Jesse introduces Rachel to a young handsome Black man playing the piano. The young man compliments Rachel, noticing her eyes, and when he sees that Rachel is embarrassed by his comments, he kisses her hand and tells her that his name is Brick.

For the last six years before arriving at the Salvation Army, Brick has been living on the streets. At first, he spent time with Paul and Lisa, the couple he met in Kansas City who gave him drugs. Then a widowed piano teacher who loved his harmonica music took him in for several months. Over the years, Brick worked odd jobs and endured racist treatment; some people assumed that he was a drug dealer because he was tall and Black. As Brick matured into a young man, he learned that “[w]omen loved him” (198). Brick met Drew at the bus station when he arrived to Portland; Brick was detoxing, and Drew offered him food and a place to stay. Brick recognizes Rachel from his old apartment building as soon as he kisses her hand, but Rachel does not remember Brick.

As the summer goes on, Rachel feels that her life is changing. She and Jesse become close friends, and Jesse helps Brick prepare for his GED. Rachel goes to Jesse’s house for dinner one night and speaks Danish with his mother. When Jesse brings Rachel home, they find Grandma watching porn, drunk. Miss Verle had given her a videotape that should have “Mr. Donahue on it” (206), so she is confused by what she sees on the screen. Jesse is polite to Grandma, and Grandma is impressed with his manners.

Lakeisha spends part of the summer in Portland. Drew, Lakeisha, and Rachel go to dinner at a restaurant, where Lakeisha grows bored when Drew and Rachel converse about the news. When Drew changes the subject to talk about the center, he mentions Brick, which cheers up Lakeisha, who thinks Brick is good-looking. Lakeisha mocks Rachel for her friendship with Jesse, “a white boy” (209), and speaks of her admiration for Brick.

Brick tries to muster the courage to tell Rachel who he is and what he knows about her story. When he drops off a box for Grandma at Grandma’s house, Rachel feels awkward around him without Jesse. Brick suggests they go outside to look at the bird feeder, and Rachel tells Brick that Lakeisha likes him even though he is older than they are. Brick plays the harmonica that Roger gave him, and he confesses to Rachel that he is not actually 25 years old. Brick is 17—he lied about his age to get a place at the center. He ran away from home when he was 11. As they watch the birds, they decide to go to a nearby amusement park the following weekend, and Brick thinks to himself that “it’s a date” (219). Rachel promises to keep his age a secret as Brick decides not to tell Rachel what he knows.