King Hedley II

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of racism.

It is 1985. Stool Pigeon, a 65-year-old man and the neighborhood “truth sayer,” enters his backyard at night with a pair of ham bones for his cats. He tells the cats to mind the dogs and says he will try to bring them some fish heads tomorrow. Speaking to himself, he notes that the people in his neighborhood are “lost.” He notes the way that everyone wanders around without a real sense of purpose. Aunt Ester, he posits, still knows the way. She is 366 years old by now, but no one consults her anymore and her wisdom has been largely lost.

King Hedley II enters his yard, removes a small packet of seeds from his pocket, and begins to plant them. His mother, Ruby, comes outside. She tells her son that he needs a telephone and asks when he plans to get it turned on. He tells her that he cannot have the phone turned on until he has saved up the $225 that it costs to do so, and she offers to turn it on for him.