Malik and his family

Malik wants to fly like a bird. He's been watching "The Wizard of Oz" and has gotten ideas about flying.

Mamie points out that birds have a wingspan and wing strength in balance with their bodies, unlike humans.

Malik counters that he's read a book at school The People Who Could Fly.

Mamie explains the book is folklore, treasured stories humans have told each other for ages.

She also tells Malik that the desire to fly led humans to invent airplanes and helicopters.

When he persists, she recalls for Malik a boy she knew growing up who tried to fly.

He ended up breaking his leg when he tried to fly.

Malik then wants to know why he sees wings for sale on Telegraph Ave. if not to help people fly.

She explains those kind of wings are to help people dream, not fly.

Malik wonders why Damien isn't punished for his hi-jinks.

Mamie explains that she doesn't believe in punishment because she was severely punished when she was Malik's age.

Rather, Mamie prefers to hold Damien, Gretchen and Malik to high expectations.

They talk about the therapy Nana, Mamie's mother, went through after chastising Mamie as a child.

They talk of stereotypes and vulnerability on TV crime shows she likes to watch, including "The Sopranos."

Mamie explains why people see a therapist, even a gangster like Tony Soprano.

Malik expresses alarm that his mother is going to visit Auntie Pat after she drops him at school.

Auntie Pat has cancer and Mamie visits her on the regular.

However, Malik is afraid because Auntie Pat lives in the ghetto.

Burglary suspects often whiz past her screened door, the police in hot pursuit.

Mamie and Auntie Pat's laughter at the chase (they call it "Cops and Robbers") scares him even more.

Malik is afraid that the police will come shoot them because of their raucous laughter.

Mamie reasons that, while she will be more careful, bad things happen even in their own nice neighborhood.

Malik holds his mother to her promise that she will answer his question about black Presidents before Obama.

She says there were possibly eight other black Presidents.

Malik is mystified because the U.S. Presidents on posters he has seen look white except for Obama.

He calculates that 8 is almost 6% of 46.

Mamie explains the phenomenon of passing for white which might account for the disappeared eight.

She details how passing was a painful experience, where one had to leave all behind to escape the stigma of being black.

Malik learns about the Black is Beautiful movement and the African diaspora.

Mamie discovers that Malik isn’t eating his homemade lunch at school.

Malik explains that he’s giving his lunch to a classmate who begs for it.

When Mamie admonishes him, he asks how what he does at lunch differs from Mamie giving to the homeless.

Mamie explains how a mother and her family in a tent differs from his classmate who has a home.

Malik tells Mamie how Gretchen makes fun of the homeless when they drive past them.

He says he hopes he will never be homeless.

His mother explains the randomness of life, and how a tornado or flood can render a whole town homeless.

Malik wants to know how to be prepared.

Malik tells Mamie about a prank that Damien and Arturro are playing on people at school.

It's a game called Bicycle, substituting the word "bike" or "bicycle" for the word "penis" in the game.

They play the game on other students and their teacher, asking if they have a bicycle..

Malik wants to know why people laugh so hard when they don't know why the joke is funny

Mamie explains that laughter is contagious.

Malik tells Mamie, when they pranked Big Mike, he felt sorry for Big Mike.

The boys want Malik to play the game on Mrs. Bodolio.

But he says he won't do that because she's from Chicago.

Malik asks Mamie why she always take the long route to school,

She says she loves their little chats.

She adds that she doesn't want to get stuck for an extra 10 minutes if a train is coming,

He knows she doesn't like to ride BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and asks if she is afraid of trains.

She confesses she is.

Malik shares that his class is studying trains.

Mamie explains why some people objected when trains were invented.

She tells him that people who are afraid of technology are called Luddites.

Luddites are afraid of the unknown, the new, and the unfamiliar.

Mamie confesses to being somewhat of a Luddite.

Malik suggests a way to overcome her fear of trains.

Malik asks Mamie about Big Mike, who is his older siblings' father.

Big Mike is white and Malik's school friend has called him a saltine.

Malik wants to know what a saltine is.

Mamie explains that it is a derogatory term.

Malik's sister, Gretchen, has expressed a dislike for her dad, and Malik wonders why.

Malik and Mamie talk about Gretchen's feelings, and about feelings in general.

Malik confides that he knows where Gretchen hides her earnings from babysitting.

Malik fears that Damian, his older brother, might take Gretchen's money.

Mamie talks about trust and the heart and how teens often try to appear tough.

Malik is a third-grader in Oakland, California, who has told his mother he's afraid of his teacher.

His mother listens to his fears, that the teacher is from Chicago and that he heard gangsters are from Chicago.

His mother patiently helps him understand that he has assumed something that may not be true.

He heard about gangsters from Chicago, he tells her, on his older brother Damien's TV.

He is also afraid of his teacher because she has excessive hair above her lip (a mustache).

His mother helps him understand that his imagination is working overtime.

She teaches him that he can use all these feelings and create a story, something called fiction.