The Stars Beneath Our Feet

Lolly and Rose’s Lego cities have evolved. Lolly builds things instinctively, as if he is making up hip-hop lyrics. His city is 20 feet around and growing; Rose’s is smaller and full of lifelike details.

Their relationship has also evolved. They share ideas and talk about what they are making. Mr. Ali tells Lolly to be patient with Rose because it takes her longer to pick up on social cues and body language. He also asks Lolly how his emotions have been and tells him to be grateful for what he has.

That afternoon Mr. Ali and Ms. Jen bring the after-school group to see their Lego builds progress. Lolly explains the story behind the castle and the Moneekrom family, and everyone listens and seems interested. They also ask Rose questions, amazed at what she built. Lolly notices that too many questions cause Rose to shut down. He shows her the book Steve bought him and invites her to explore some buildings in Midtown on Saturday.

Sunny is jealous that Lolly never asks her out. She calls him stupid and glares at Rose. Rose laughs at her. Lolly feels sorry for Sunny but doesn’t know why.

Yvonne takes Lolly and Vega to the game store on her day off. Yvonne is easy to talk into things, maybe because she thinks spoiling Lolly will make Lolly’s mom love her more. After buying two games, Yvonne takes them to Applebee’s to meet Lolly’s mom. Yvonne teases Lolly about hanging out with a girl from after-school and Vega jokes that he and Rose “are going to get married in their storage closet and have big-head, special babies” (144).

Lolly is waiting for Rose on the corner at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue when Harp and Gully grab him and drag him to a less crowded street. They make Lolly give them his new phone. Suddenly, Rose speeds around the corner, yells, “When you die, they bury you” (149), raises her plastic lunch box, and hits Gully in the back of the head so hard the lunch box breaks in two. Gully tumbles to the ground. Then Rose punches Harp until he takes off running. Gully quickly follows him.

After spending the afternoon hunting for buildings in Midtown, Lolly treats Rose to lunch at McDonalds since she lost hers when smacking Gully. They talk about their favorite buildings. Lolly notices that Rose is very exact when she speaks. He asks Rose why she has such a good memory and why she likes to be alone. Rose frowns and says she isn’t autistic. Lolly says he feels different from everyone else too and tells her about Jermaine’s death. Building Lego structures with Rose makes Lolly feel like he could get better. Rose reveals that her mother jumped off a St. Nick building. Lolly is shocked. He remembers hearing about the woman but didn’t know it was Rose’s mom. Suddenly, looking down, Rose says, “Rosamund, when you die, they bury you, but your soul flies to the stars” (155). It’s the same thing she said to Harp and Gully. Lolly doesn’t know what it means.

Vega is grounded because he lost his jacket. When Lolly gets to Vega’s apartment, a bunch of his cousins are there including Frito. Frito asks Lolly to tell Vega to “man up” (160). Vega admits that didn’t really lose his coat, but gave it to Harp and Gully, who ran up on him that afternoon. There is something especially mean about how Harp and Gully steal: They pretend people are giving them their things as gifts. It makes their victims feel less than human and powerless. Frito says that Vega has to do something about it or they won’t ever stop.

In the storage room, Vega watches Lolly and Rose build. Upset and angry, Vega plays a sad Tchaikovsky song on his violin. Even though he wasn’t sad before, Lolly feels sad now listening to the song. He realizes that all art makes you feel a certain way. Mr. Ali told him that his Lego creations are art. Lolly wants to build forever.

Vega is impressed by Rose’s creations and asks how she remembers everything with such detail. Looking closer, Vega notices Rose has put gold star stickers where all the sidewalks are. When he asks why, she recites without looking up, “Rosamund, when you die, they bury you, but your soul flies to the stars. Your mama, your daddy—they were buried under the ground, but they’re stars now, girl, stars beneath our feet” (164). It’s a poem from one of her grandmother’s books.

Lolly explains the whole story of Harmonee. Vega says it’s like a “whole other world from tiny bricks and your head” (165).

Lolly meets his friends Kofi and Daryl to bike around Harlem. They run into Rockit, who doesn’t seem as relaxed as he usually does. The right side of his face is all swollen and he looks like he hasn’t slept in a long time.

Rockit says that on the night Jermaine was shot, Jermaine said he was planning to give the game console to Lolly because he had always wanted one when he was little, but they never had the money. Jermaine had “big plans” for Lolly (168)—had Jermaine lived, he would have made sure Lolly got into college because he wanted more for him. Lolly feels angry that Jermaine never said any of that to him. Rockit tells him there is a lot that Jermaine didn’t talk about, and that Lolly reminds him so much of Jermaine. Rockit will try to look after Lolly like Jermaine would have wanted. If anyone is bothering Lolly, Rockit will take care of it.

After he leaves, Lolly tries to pedal off all the anger he feels. Flying down the steep Sugar Hill makes him feel free. At the bottom of the hill, Daryl leaves a bag of fries for the coyote. Lolly says that the coyote was “a species in danger. Hunted down and shot up” (170). They all know how that feels.

In the storage room, Lolly and Sunny are arguing. Ever since Lolly started hanging out with Rose, Sunny has been making rude comments about Harmonee, calling it childish and a waste of time. She says at least Lolly shows more imagination than Rose who is just replicating the city. Rose leaps to her feet, raises her fist, glares at Sunny, and says, “When you die, they bury you” (172). Rose tells Sunny she “acts ugly” (172), at which Sunny deflates and leaves the room.

Mr. Ali is really proud of what Rose and Lolly they’ve accomplished with their cities, but he has bad news: They have to tear down their builds to make room for a new fitness program. Lolly spends Saturday miserable. The city is him. Building was letting him process Jermaine’s death, and now it will be erased. In the middle of the night, Lolly crawls into his mom’s bed. She hugs him and he feels safe.

Mr. Ali doesn’t want Lolly to backslide just because he has to tear Harmonee down, but Lolly is already feeling again like how he used to. Mr. Ali gives him a new sketchbook—maybe he can draw ideas for cities since he doesn’t have the space to build. Lolly wonders how Rose is handling all of this.