Much of Alfred and James' dreaming is shared at a secret cave that James discovered in the park as a young boy while rock hunting. He had a book about rocks and wanted to save the best ones to show at school. When James took the rocks home, however, his drunken father dumped them all down the air shaft in their apartment. At that moment, it is as though James' dreams were dumped down the air shaft as well. One of James' dreams was to be an engineer and build great things. But James allows himself to believe Major and Hollis when they tell him that "the white man" would never allow him to build anything but garbage heaps.
The cave is a safe place for James and Alfred, a symbolic haven from the mean streets and bullies like Major who steal whatever small change the boys have. Near the end of the novel, when James is seriously injured and running from the police, Alfred knows that he can find his old friend hiding in the cave. As boys, they spun their dreams in solitude there. Some of their fantasies may have been unrealistic, but at least Alfred and James had hope. James doesn't have much hope left as the novel opens; his hopes and dreams have been dashed by people like his father and Major and the gang.
