Monday's Not Coming

Claudia reflects on Mrs. Charles’s color: yellow. She sees Monday’s mother as incredibly bright and vivid, in positive ways as well as negative. However bright she was on her own, “one drop of another color could spoil her brightness” (93). Mrs. Charles is beautiful yet dark and cold. 

Claudia’s grades suffered because she was consumed with Monday’s disappearance. She spoke with Mrs. Valente again. After sharing half her lunch with Claudia, Mrs. Valente took her once again to the office. The office worker again said Monday wasn’t registered for school. She tried calling the home, to no avail. The school social worker had notified the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) but didn’t follow up due to a family emergency. 

Claudia associated social workers with child abuse. She again wondered if Monday would have told her she was being abused. Mrs. Valente promised to keep following up and told Claudia not to worry too much.

Claudia meditates on the colors that represent dancing for her: grays, silvers, and charcoals. Dancing, for her, is like imitating the shadows moving beneath the surface of a river. 

She has her solo lesson with Ms. Manis today. Ms. Manis chooses the song each girl dances to for their solo, in order to challenge them to dance outside of their comfort zone. For Claudia, she’s picked Adele’s “All I Ask.” It’s a beautiful song, but Claudia is disappointed. The routine she and Monday had choreographed will not work with such a slow song and she will have to come up with her own moves if Monday doesn’t return soon. Ms. Manis tells her: “This, being your first solo, I picked a piece that has a mix of grace and fire. Trust me, it’s perfect for you. Perfect for healing. Listen to it a few times and become familiar. You’ll soon see yourself in the song” (101).

As Claudia is leaving, she runs into an older dancer named Megan, who intimidates her. Megan, however, is friendly and warm to Claudia. 

Two Sundays passed before Ma followed through on her promise to visit Monday’s house. When they pulled up, Ma called Daddy to let him know they had arrived. She restated the importance of letting people know where you were. Both she and Claudia were afraid to be at Monday’s house.

When they knocked on the door, an upstairs curtain flapped. Claudia wondered if Monday was locked up there in her room. Mrs. Charles opened the door, looking as unwell as the last time Claudia saw her. She and Ma spoke about the eviction notices in the neighborhood and how white people would build condos there and not hire black people. Ma shared that her pastor wanted to help by forming a coalition. Mrs. Charles sneered at Ma’s religion and distrusted Ma’s pastor.

Mrs. Charles told them Monday was with her father, like she’d told Claudia when she stopped by earlier. She made a jab at Ma about the fact that Ma could only have one child. She said she’d tell Monday that Claudia and Ma stopped by and would give them a call sometime. Claudia noticed Mrs. Charles’s ominous smile as she watched them drive away.

Ma was furious to learn that Claudia went there alone without her permission. She didn’t tell Daddy but held it over Claudia’s head, forcing Claudia to help with preparations for the large Thanksgiving celebration they were hosting. (Daddy has a large family, and Claudia’s cousins are all adults. Monday used to fill the void by being someone her age that Claudia could play with, but not anymore.)

Ma asked Daddy about Tip Charles, Monday’s father. Tip left shortly before Monday’s younger sister Tuesday was born, and Monday hardly ever talked about him. Claudia found it odd that Monday would be living with him. Daddy called Tip a fool and asked why Ma wondered about him. She told him she was worried about Monday and wanted to check up on her. Daddy advised them to stay out of others’ business.

Ma lost her temper, asking Daddy to get Tip’s number already. Daddy complied, and Claudia was relieved Ma was still on her side.