Fire from the Rock

Sylvia Patterson witnesses her eight-year-old sister, Donna Jean, get attacked and bitten by the Crandalls’ dog while the two girls wait for their Aunt Bessie. Aunt Bessie washes and irons Mr. Crandall’s shirts, but he always makes her wait for her money while he checks to make sure all 25 shirts are pristine. When their older brother, Gary, comes home, he gets very mad when he learns that the Crandalls’ dog attacked his baby sister. Their mother, Leola Patterson, quotes from the Bible and tries to calm him down. She says DJ will recover just fine. Gary gets even angrier and storms out of the house. Sylvia asks about calling the police, but her mother says they should save those calls for life-threatening situations only.

Sylvia wonders if the Crandalls will ever be punished for training their dogs to attack Black people on purpose. Sylvia writes in her diary that “White folks like the Crandalls don’t care how hard we pray or how loud we scream hallelujah. They still hate us” (15).

While eating breakfast, Sylvia tries to convince her mother to let her wear a poodle skirt to school like her white friend Rachel does, but