Long Division

City asks his friend Shay to come over to distract him from what happened with Grandma. Shay wants to talk about the sentence competition, but City changes the subject to Long Division and Baize Shephard’s disappearance. The friends go into the Magic Woods and find sticks to play “The Secret Game” (92). They start battling with the sticks and teasing each other. City gets déjà vu, but Shay doesn’t feel it. She tells City to take his pants down and hold onto a tree. City obeys, and Shay starts switching his genitals. When City gets upset, Shay explains it was part of a dare with Baize. The friends start theorizing about Baize again, and Shay suggests that the white man in Grandma’s shed may have taken her. City is confused but goes along with Shay when she says the issue has something to do with the naked pictures Reverend Cherry, the minister at Grandma’s church, keeps in his car.

The friends meet Kincaid at Reverend Cherry’s house. Shay disappears while Kincaid films City rifling through Reverend Cherry’s car for the photos. A horde of wasps comes out of the car and stings City.

City breaks into Grandma’s shed and finds Sooo Sad “lying in the fetal position,” covered in “blood, sweat, and sawdust” (104). City asks what’s going on, but Sooo Sad just writes that he’s sad in the dust. City is surprised when he notices another copy of Long Division next to Sooo Sad. He reads Sooo Sad a few passages.

On the way to church, City tries to make sense of everything that’s happening. Grandma interrupts his thoughts, talking about salvation, God, and heaven. At church, Reverend Cherry addresses City from the pulpit, referencing his television appearance. City hears himself responding to the reverend but has no interest in being saved. He tries explaining that he simply likes the reverend’s sentences, but two deacons lead him to the front of the church. Grandma is thrilled that City will soon be baptized. City glares at the image of Jesus on the wall in front of him and thinks of the best, longest sentence he’s ever thought of. Afterward, City starts to feel afraid, convinced that he’s going to die during his baptism.

City writes his will, convinced that he’ll drown during his baptism (City has been told that Grandma’s husband drowned while attempting to save a white boy). Uncle Relle comes over and starts filming City while he’s reading and writing. He plans to use the footage for his reality television plan. Afterward, City visits Sooo Sad in the shed again. He asks him more questions and reads him more chapters from Long Division.

City starts to understand how sad he’s been feeling while reading to Sooo Sad. He thinks about his family, friends, and LaVander, remembering his classmate Octavia’s struggle with depression. He tells Sooo Sad he’s sorry that Uncle Relle beat him and explains that he (City) wants to “help” Sooo Sad.

City feels nervous in the hours before his baptism. Grandma is working, so Uncle Relle helps City get ready. Grandma is making City wear the dashiki Mama wanted him to wear, although City’s mother isn’t attending the baptism.

Uncle Relle goes out and comes back with LaVander, who says his father sent him to Melahatchie. The boys talk about what happened at the contest, and City tells LaVander about Long Division. He asks LaVander why his eyes were watering before the competition, and LaVander reveals that he overheard the judges saying they were going to let him win because City would cause too much trouble.

City, LaVander, and his family meet up at the church. City thinks about everything he’s experienced, including Sooo Sad, his grandfather’s death, and Baize’s disappearance. He tells himself that if he dies (as he is now convinced he will), he’ll find a way to come back to life and free Sooo Sad.

City gets into a pool with Reverend Cherry and Uncle Relle for his baptism. Terrified they’ll let him drown, he begs them to let Grandma help. The reverend refuses, saying men always do the dunking, and plunges City under the water three times. City emerges from the water and starts running around, screaming. Grandma smiles and cries while Uncle Relle films everything. City races under the organ and hides until Grandma pulls him out. Afterward, City realizes he has “beaten death.”

City tells Grandma he loves her before she goes out on some errands. After she leaves, City takes LaVander into the shed and shows him Sooo Sad. City tells them how important Long Division is and reads them the last chapters.

City interrogates Sooo Sad about Baize. Sooo Sad insists that he didn’t do anything to Baize or to City’s grandfather. City doesn’t understand what he’s talking about and wonders if Grandma attacked Sooo Sad because she blamed him for her husband’s drowning. Sooo Sad says that City’s grandfather saved him from drowning when Sooo Sad was a young boy but that he doesn’t know anything more about him. He gets increasingly upset, insisting that City and LaVander let him go. Then he headbutts LaVander, who races out of the shed bleeding. City is beating Sooo Sad in the face with his book when Grandma appears and sends him outside. He sits in the car with LaVander and listens until the noises in the shed stop.

Grandma drives the boys away from the house. Grandma doesn’t say anything, and City’s mind wanders. Finally, he addresses Grandma about Long Division and tells her he loves her. He tries asking about the difference between fiction and real life and worries that Sooo Sad is dead. Grandma seems upset and apologizes for letting City get involved in her “mess”; she says she was wrong for treating Sooo Sad as she did and implies that she will soon be arrested. Finally, she drops the boys off not far from the Magic Woods. After she leaves, City tells LaVander he loves him, and they decide to look for a hole with a hatch that he read about in Long Division. As they climb inside, LaVander admits he’s afraid, and City starts reading aloud. He realizes the book might tell them how to “love better.”