Enriched by warm, fuzzy memories of Saturdays, worm gardens, a chinaberry tree, shining shoes with a biscuit, and ten cents' allowance, Chapter 17 moves optimistically away from Maya's earlier sufferings. Then, without warning, the plot yo-yos back to the dark side when Bailey stays late at a movie to see a white actress — Kay Francis, whom Bailey describes as being the image of "Mother Dear." His unexplained absence leaves the family on the raw rim of anxiety. Momma's overreaction to his tardiness stems from the fear of the "hanging noose," the capricious racist violence that traditionally snatches away "sons, grandsons and nephews."
Willing to undergo humiliation and punishment to retain his secret, weeks later, Bailey shares the entrancing screen star with Maya when the next Kay Francis movie comes to Stamps. Angelou uses the opportunity to skewer movieland's black caricatures and the variations in response from white cinema-goers and their black counterparts, relegated to the colored balcony. Ending the episode with an unexpected burst of rebellion from Bailey, she divulges that a year later, Bailey hops a train and exits her life in a brief attempt to locate his "Mother Dear." Her droll side note pictures him stranded in Baton Rouge, nowhere near his beloved parent.
