Money Hungry

On the bus to Zora’s house, Raspberry hears a few elderly women discussing home cleaning rates and is inspired. By the time she gets off the bus, she has a new plan that she predicts can make her up to $200 a week: cleaning peoples’ homes.

Outside of Zora’s house, Raspberry sees Dr. Mitchell drive by in his car. Raspberry recalls when she and Momma first met Zora and Dr. Mitchell three years ago at a soup kitchen. Raspberry and Momma were living on the street at the time, and they both worked and ate at the soup kitchen. Dr. Mitchell worried that Zora was becoming too spoiled and so brought her there to “show her how the other half lived” (24). Dr. Mitchell and Momma struck up a conversation and realized that they had grown up in the same projects on the other side of town. Dr. Mitchell offered Momma and Raspberry a place to stay with him, but Momma refused. Raspberry recalls that a few months later when they finally found their current apartment, Momma spent much of the night crying. Raspberry understands that Momma is sad to have ended up back in the same projects she grew up in.