A Duet For Home

The trailers arrive in the courtyard, and more families move into the shelter, creating a crowded cafeteria and inciting new conflict. Meetings with Mr. Fernsby are cold and bureaucratic, and there are new security officers.

Tyrell’s disappearance causes an uproar. Marcus walks through the Bronx to look for him, and Humberto drives the van around the neighborhood. At 9:30 pm, Tyrell returns from the Bronx with a “haunted look,” and the next day, he acts as if everything is fine.

Jeremiah doesn’t call or contact Tyrell, and the politicians and officials do not reply to the letters that Tyrell and June write to protest HSP. Meanwhile, the two continue to receive lessons from Domenika, who wants June to be “150 percent prepared” for the school orchestra audition. While Domenika instructs Tyrell, she sends June to practice in her basement. There, June sees pictures of Domenika performing for the president of the United States and at Carnegie Hall.

In the chapel, Tyrell practices with June until Marcus and Lulu’s family arrive. They want to hear June perform, but she isn’t ready. Abuela and Ms. Vega push her to be more confident, with Ms. Vega telling her to stretch her arms to the ceiling as if she were six feet tall.