" Sala, waking up to the sun and finding her mother groomed, could try to forget the night before. There were many things Sala tried to forget; sometimes she succeeded, for an hour or a day. More often, Cassie wearied and bewildered her. It had grown impossible to know what was real or true, and Sala was afraid all of the time. She learned to put aside things that were too confusing or too painful. And so she set aside the previous evening and hopped out of bed and asked her mother if she could wear her purple corduroy pants to school that day. "

― Ayana Mathis , The Twelve Tribes of Hattie