“it’s not for me,” my mother was saying. “it’s for your children that i’m asking you for money.”

“i ain’t got nothing,” my father said, laughing.

“come here, boy,” the strange woman called to me.

i looked at her and did not move.

“give him a nickel,” the woman said. “he’s cute.”

wright most likely included this anecdote in order to

illustrate his mother’s optimistic point of view.

clarify his father’s relationship with another woman.

prove the state of his father’s financial security.

demonstrate his father’s dismissive treatment.