The Revelation of Dionne Daphne

Too agitated to sleep, Dionne meticulously cleans her apartment, tends to her vacationing neighbors’ plants, and does laundry. Worried that Kareem has told her best friend, Farrah, about her HIV scare, Dionne calls and leaves a manic message on Farrah’s answering machine, telling her everything is fine. She claims she has a ten-thousand-dollar budget from Essence for a work trip to find “beauties off the beaten path” (106). Later, Dominic arrives in a cherry-red Mercedes-Benz, which surprises Dionne. As he loads her excessive luggage, she hesitates, suddenly questioning the safety of getting in a car with a man she hardly knows. However, she is swayed by his pained, vulnerable expression and her reasoning that he is not dangerous—he went to jail for drugs, not murder.

Once on the road, Dionne adds two more names, Todd and Sean, to her list of past lovers. Dominic reveals he quit his delivery job to take the trip. Later, during a panic attack, Dionne accuses him of exploiting her trauma. Hurt and angry, Dominic pulls into a rest stop. Though Dionne apologizes, he drives to a regional airport in West Virginia and tells her to take a plane home, stating he cannot be on a trip with someone who is afraid of him. Dionne breaks down, explaining that her fear is general and not specifically about him. Dominic relents, and they find a nearby motel for the night. The white receptionist is visibly anxious around Dominic until she sees Dionne, at which point she becomes friendly. They get two separate rooms.

In her motel room, Dionne checks her messages and finds one from Farrah, who is still unaware of the truth. Relieved, Dionne calls her back, but Farrah answers the phone mid-message. Farrah reveals that Kareem visited her and told her everything. She is furious and deeply hurt that Dionne, her best friend of over a decade, didn’t trust her enough to confide in her. After the emotional confrontation, Farrah hangs up. Devastated, Dionne hears Dominic knock. He offers to get her ice, and after a brief exchange of good nights he walks away. Alone again, Dionne understands that confronting her trauma will be a long, difficult process and decides that going to her mother’s house is not the right place to start.

It is now day five of waiting for results from the HIV test. At five in the morning, Dominic knocks on Dionne’s door—he says he has been knocking for 10 minutes. He heard her crying hard the night before and his concern for her safety is evident, though unspoken, in the way he checks her over. Heading down the hallway to check out, they encounter a cleaner’s cart blocking the way, and a young Black housekeeper named Jada rushes out of a room. Dionne is struck by Jada’s natural beauty and, after showing her her Essence business card, convinces her to be the first subject for the “Everyday Beauty” project. Dominic successfully photographs Jada during her cigarette break in the parking lot.

Later, at a diner, Dionne informs Dominic of a change in plans: She wants to go to Detroit to confront her father, Wahid (formerly David), before they continue to Kansas City. She explains that her father’s conversion to the Nation of Islam led to her parents’ divorce and that he let her mother take the children to Kansas City without a fight, after which her mother married Richard. Dominic gently questions whether this is a “delay tactic” to avoid the more difficult confrontation with her mother and stepfather, Richard. Dionne dismisses his concern and calls her father’s home, speaking with his wife, Miriam, to announce her impending visit.

Upon arriving in Detroit, Dionne feels invigorated by the city’s vivid Black culture. To postpone the meeting with her father, she has Dominic take her to a local mall, where they spend hours photographing a group of stylish female college students. Later, at her childhood home, Dionne is greeted by her father, Wahid; his wife, Miriam; and her two young half-sisters, whom she barely knows. Her anxiety escalates when she goes upstairs and discovers that the house has been remodeled, and the wall where her and her sister’s heights were once marked has been demolished.

Back downstairs, in a detached, robotic voice, Dionne tells her father what Richard did to her, once every week for five years. Wahid breaks down weeping but then attempts to blame Dionne’s mother for leaving him and marrying Richard. Dionne angrily refutes this, holding Wahid accountable for abandoning his family. When Wahid asks her to pray with him, she refuses, and he walks away from her to go upstairs to pray alone. As she is leaving, Dionne tells a horrified Miriam that she may be HIV-positive, a confession her father overhears from the top of the stairs.

In the car, Dionne rants that her father is a coward who controls his young wife, Miriam. Dominic challenges her perspective, suggesting Miriam might have chosen her life and accusing Dionne of pursuing a similar “white man’s dream” (161) with Darren. Angered, Dionne pulls rank, calling herself Dominic’s boss and ordering him to drive back to her father’s house to invite Miriam to be featured in the Essence shoot. Wahid greets her warmly, telling her he prayed for her return, but she ignores him and asks to feature Miriam in the project, an offer her father refuses on Miriam’s behalf. When Miriam comes downstairs and suggests Dionne stay for a few days to reconcile, Dionne is momentarily stunned, concludes her father has won, and leaves without saying goodbye. Back in the car, she tells Dominic their next destination is Kansas City.

During a long, silent drive, Dionne stops at a Casey’s truck stop and buys a unicorn-shaped journal. She transfers her list of sexual partners into it, starting with her stepfather, Richard, and recalling traumatic memories associated with the names. After listing 36 partners, writing Darren’s and Kareem’s names at the end triggers quiet tears, and Dominic breaks the silence to check on her, easing the tension. Their truce is short-lived, however, as they are pulled over by a Black police officer for no reason, which makes Dominic extremely tense. Later, at a gas station, Dionne’s credit card is declined. The incident embarrasses Dominic, who confesses his frustration at being a man with no money and reveals that in his former life as a drug dealer, he had immense wealth. The next morning, Dionne wakes at 10 am to find they are in another Casey’s parking lot and that Dominic has covered her with his jacket while they both slept in the car.