Dragons in a Bag

Ma tells Jaxon to lock the door, but he only turns one of the three locks and leaves his book bag by the door because he thinks that he might need to flee from the apartment and go to the Patels. He takes in the apartment’s dim lighting, musty smell, and tidiness. A clatter of pots and pans draws Jaxon’s attention to the kitchen. He politely declines when Ma asks him if he’s hungry, but she makes him a peanut butter sandwich anyway. Jaxon sees a small box covered in colorful stamps but with no return address sitting on Ma’s kitchen table. She tells him that an old friend who lives in Madagascar sent it to her. Sensing that the woman is testing him, Jaxon tells her some of the geography facts he knows about Madagascar and Africa. Ma seems impressed by the boy’s knowledge. He’s irritated that adults tend to assume that children don’t know much, but he tries to hide his annoyance. When he mentions that Madagascar is home to many rare animals, she agrees with a laugh. To Jaxon’s astonishment, the box jumps when he reaches for it. He hides his surprise as Ma brings him the peanut butter sandwich and joins him at the table.

Ma tells Jaxon that he’s welcome to read any of her books, and he’s happy when he learns that they’re alike in that neither of them has a TV in their home. Ma remarks, “I guess your mama didn’t forget everything I taught her” (12). Then, Ma is shocked to learn that Jaxon thinks that they’re related and tells him, “Boy, I ain’t your granny!” (13). Jaxon is equally surprised by the fact that his mother seems to have left him with a stranger. Ma tells Jaxon to finish his sandwich and go read a book in the living room while she makes a phone call.

Alone in the kitchen, Jaxon stares at the now motionless box and wonders if he was only imagining that it jumped. A gray squirrel scratches at the window. To Jaxon’s astonishment, the animal understands him and nods when he asks if she wants to come inside. The boy suspects that Ma won’t appreciate having a rodent in her apartment, but he senses that this is a worthwhile risk given the animal’s remarkable ability to understand him. The squirrel immediately goes to the stamp-covered box and rests her head on it as if listening to the contents. The squirrel tries to communicate with Jaxon, but he can’t understand her. The squirrel sets part of Jaxon’s sandwich on the box, and the box rumbles and jumps.

The squirrel climbs onto the fridge and tries to open a locked cupboard. As Jaxon climbs up to help the animal, Ma enters the kitchen. She gravely asks him, “You didn’t give them any [marshmallows], did you, boy?” (19). Baffled, Jaxon assures her that he didn’t. The squirrel continues her efforts to open the cupboard and screeches at Ma. The woman menaces the animal with a wooden cane and shouts, “Don’t you tell me how to handle my business! I may be old, but I ain’t daft! Now get—GET!” (19). Jaxon is worried when Ma’s cane strikes the box. The squirrel looks at Jaxon, points at the locked cupboard, and exits through the window.

Ma picks up the dented carboard box and shoos Jaxon into the living room, which has a wall lined with bookshelves. He selects a book entitled The Wondrous Lizards of Madagascar by L. Roy Jenkins. The boy notices that Ma has an old rotary phone, but it isn’t connected to the wall. When he asks her about her phone call, she brusquely tells him to go read. Jaxon is surprised at his own behavior because he usually follows the rules, and he hopes that if he’s obedient from then on, Ma will tell him what’s in the box. He’s horrified when she punches the box after it jumps again.

Ma calls Jaxon over to her and empties a tin of mints into his hand. Then, she instructs him to turn around and close his eyes while she transfers the contents of the box into the tin. Ma puts the red palm-sized tin and an antique gold pocket watch in her purse. Jaxon sees “pearly purple fragments” of eggshells in the cardboard box and realizes that something hatched inside (27). He wonders what animal could be strong enough to move the box but also small enough to fit inside the mint tin. When he asks Ma what she put in the tin, she angrily tells him not to meddle in adults’ business: “You’re hardheaded, just like your mama. She didn’t listen to me when she had the chance, and now where is she? In court begging some judge to keep a roof over your hard heads” (29). Jaxon tears up and tells the woman not to talk about his mother like that. Ma counters that she knows Alicia better than he does and says that neither he nor his mother are prepared for the trouble that is after them.

Furious, Jaxon goes to the door and puts on his backpack. When he says that he’s going home, Ma laughs uproariously and tells him that he no longer has a home. Jaxon retorts that he should leave because she clearly doesn’t want him around. Ma tells him that she doesn’t have anything against him personally and is simply irritated that he’s keeping her from attending to her business. Jaxon tells Ma that he’s going to his friend Vikram’s house. A growl emanates from Ma’s bag, and the low sound turns into a high-pitched squeal when Ma hits the bag with her cane. As the woman wearily sinks into a chair, Jaxon hurries out of the apartment.