Not Without Laughter

Hager takes in a boarder—a hodcarrier who has such a drinking problem that he wets the bed one night. While Sandy occasionally plays with his friends, he spends much of his extra time running errands for his grandmother and listening to her stories. He is glad to go back to school that fall, however. Mr. Logan helps Sandy find a job sweeping up (with the possibility of extra money for the rare shoeshine) in Pete Scott's barbershop on Saturdays.

Having lived with only women most of his life, Sandy is at first shocked by the "man's world" he encounters in the barbershop (132). There, Sandy is forced to toughen up to deflect the jokes about his light hair and jokes "that were not really jokes at all, but rather unpleasant realities that hurt unless you can think of something equally funny and unpleasant to say in return" (133). The rough joking among the patrons seldom turned into physical confrontations, however. Sandy learns to give as good as he gets and how to straighten and darken his hair with Madame Walker's pomade and a stocking cap at night.

Harriet visits the family from time to time. Although she is supposedly working in a hotel as a chambermaid, one day, Sandy overhears talk that implies Harriet is a sex worker.