Chapter One
Mama's Plan
Whenever I was alone in our apartment, which was quite often, and if I was very
quiet, I could hear the sounds of other families below and around us. They
traveled through the thin walls and in or over the pipes. I could move my ear
from the wall on one side of the room to the other or take myself to another
room, preferably the bathroom or kitchen, and press my ear to the walls there
and hear different noises — what I thought of as the symphony of the Garden
Apartments. It was almost like changing stations on a radio.
There were families who always seemed to be at war with each other, complaining,
screaming, threatening in growls and shouts. There were those who spoke softly,
enjoyed some laughter and even some singing. And there were often the sounds of
someone crying, even sobbing, as if someone was walled in forever like in the
short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Of course, I could hear television sets and
hip-hop music. There were at least a half-dozen white families in our project,
but their music wasn't very different, and I often heard as much shouting and
crying from them as well.
I didn't know any other person who paid as much attention to the symphony of the
Garden Apartments as I did. They we ... read full excerpt from Ice ebook
