Leaving Atlanta

In the summer of 1979, rain pours out of the Atlanta skies for three months. On the first day of school at Oglethorpe Elementary School, LaTasha Renee Baxter leaves her fifth-grade classroom, set in a trailer, to go to recess. She carries her jump rope, which she has been practicing. This is her last chance to prove her jump rope skills—“the proving ground for girls as long as she could remember” (4)—before matriculating to Southwest Elementary School. Due to the rainy summer, she practices in her basement. At recess she asks Monica Fisher—the best rope skipper she has ever seen—if she wants to jump rope. Monica refuses, not wanting to sweat out her pressed hair. Instead, the girls play jacks, using 20 jacks and a rubber ball. Tasha wins easily, using tricks that her mother has taught her. Monica, however, lies and says that she let Tasha win. She then mocks Tasha over her parents’ separation. Tasha clarifies, saying that her parents are only living apart. She then retaliates against Monica by saying that her mother told her that Monica’s family lives beyond their means. Tasha then flees to the girls’ restroom and sits in a stall, suppressing her need to cry.