The Color of a Lie

At lunch, a teacher escorts Lily. She sits alone, holding her head high despite the whispers. Calvin has science class with Lily. No one lets her sit next to them, so Calvin offers her a seat next to him.

After school, Calvin is worried about her getting home safely. He bikes after her. She initially declines his escort but finally agrees. He thinks that she could fit in at Heritage and asks if they can be friends. She says no, as she has no interest in passing, even if she could.

Calvin is discouraged that Lily doesn’t want to be friends even though she knows he’s Black. He starts ignoring her like everyone else. Ben and Alex walk to Calvin’s first day working for Mr. Vernon. They tell him that no one moves to Levittown without Vernon’s approval: The dead grass behind Calvin’s house is because the original owners sold it to a Black family, the Sampsons, without Vernon’s approval and the white people drove the Sampsons out.

Calvin sees Lily walk into a record store and goes inside with Ben and Alex. As they look through records, he moves closer to Lily. He hears her tell the employee that she’s looking for a Billie Holiday album. Calvin finds it and hands it to her. Ben and Alex see him talking to Lily and are shocked. Lily goes to check out, but Ben confronts her, thinking she is buying a record Calvin wanted. Calvin tries to diffuse the situation, but Ben won’t let up. He leaves the store. Ben follows him, freeing Lily to buy the album and get away. She mouths “thank you” to Calvin as she leaves.

Calvin arrives to work at Vernon Realty, where he’ll be in charge of helping customers with applications and sign-up visits. A white employee, Sharon, tells Calvin that they don’t sell homes in the integrated neighborhood Concord Park and that they hired a Black woman named Barbara to “handle” Black people looking to purchase a home.

At Heritage High, Calvin feels divorced from his identity; at home, he thinks about how emotionally unsustainable passing is, but at Sojourner, he can be himself. He asks Robert if he can live with him. Robert is sensible and knows that their father would disown Calvin if he moved. Robert wants Calvin to use his talent and intelligence to move up in the world. Calvin tells Robert the story of the family who lived in the house before them.

Eugene and Harry emerge from the Capewoods, running in fear. They were getting harassed on the street, so they cut through the woods, which are reputed to be haunted. Calvin talks about baseball with the brothers. Inside the school, Eugene plays piano, Harry plays drums, and Calvin plays trumpet. Calvin improvises alongside them. After playing for an hour, he bikes home.

The next morning, Calvin’s mother warns him about being out late. She doesn’t like the quietness of their new neighborhood, and Calvin agrees.

At school, Darren is laughing over an issue of Jet with some other boys. He tells Calvin to look at the story, and Calvin sees the open casket of Emmett Till, who he knew as “Bobo,” Ray’s cousin. Alex tries to correct the boys, who claim that Till raped a woman. Calvin realizes that his parents had known for weeks and kept the news from him.

Calvin ditches school and heads to Sojourner. While cutting through the woods, he sees Lily, who also skipped school because of the photos. After Till’s murder, she’s thinking twice about her attendance at Heritage. Calvin tells Lily that he knew Till and cries.

They talk about their music: He agrees to mimic trumpet sounds with his mouth if she sings. Together, they sing Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit.” They feel united by the music and spend hours talking. Calvin is ashamed, knowing that he won’t be able to talk to her the same at school.

When Calvin gets home, he asks his mother why she didn’t tell him about Till. He thinks that Ray must have thought he didn’t care about the murder. Calvin tells his mother that his father’s decision to move to Levittown is ruining them. His mother thinks they have no choice. She calls Ray’s house, and he says he’s sorry about Till. Ray wants to hear about not-sad things, so Calvin tells him about Lily.

Calvin and his mother mourn as they watch the news, shocked at the sympathy for Till. Calvin’s father joins, but it’s clear to Calvin that he’ll only allow them a single night of mourning.

Calvin and Lily develop a routine of meeting after school. When going to meet her, Calvin sees Darren pull off the road and grab Lily. Calvin tackles Darren, and they fight while Lily runs away. Calvin leverages his employment with Mr. Vernon to intimidate Darren. By Darren’s scared reaction, Calvin can tell that there is information about Vernon he doesn’t know.

After Darren leaves, Calvin finds Lily and walks her home. He’s bleeding, and his eye is swelling. Before Lily cuts through the Capewoods home, she tells Calvin that it’s getting too dangerous for them to keep meeting.

Calvin sees Mary on his way home. She asks questions about his whereabouts, but he evades them. At home, Calvin says that he got in a fight helping a girl who was being followed. His father knows he’s talking about Lily and assumes that Lily is why he’s been coming home late. He forbids Calvin from seeing her.

Calvin tells his father that he acts like he hates being Black. His father says he’s doing what he has to to survive. He and Calvin agree on the problems with the country but not the solutions. His father says that he fought a war against the Nazis when Hitler was inspired by racial segregation in the United States, only to come home to those same systems. He thinks that by passing, he’s pointing out how race is a construct.

When his father leaves, Calvin’s mother says he was right to help Lily.