Apollo and Patrice’s Friendship

Apollo and Patrice build a friendship through book dealing, shared candor, and practical loyalty, then test it amid suspicion and grief.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Fellow Book Man

Friendship in the Trade Shared experience Apollo and Patrice become close as two Black rare-book dealers navigating estate sales and a largely white trade. Respect without performance Apollo treats Patrice as a person and business partner, not as an emblem of military service.

The Basement Find

A Partner’s Consideration A difficult estate sale Patrice invites Apollo to a Riverdale sale and leaves the basement boxes for him to inspect. Trust shown indirectly He supports Apollo’s new fatherhood through the work they share, even when neither man is skilled at expressing tenderness.

A Lifeline after Rikers

A Friend Notices Danger A valuable book offered away Apollo gives Patrice and Dana his most important find, convinced his future is gone. A blunt intervention Patrice threatens to ruin the book if Apollo dies, forcing him to imagine surviving long enough to learn its value.

A Friendship Under Suspicion

A Question of Betrayal The tribute-page revelation Apollo confronts Patrice over the Baby Brian page, but Patrice denies creating the posts that seem to implicate him. Technology undermines trust They consider whether Kinder Garten has infiltrated Patrice’s computer and may be watching them in real time.

Loyalty in the Dark

Digging Together Practical help Patrice helps Apollo reach the grave, even as they fear police, surveillance, and what they may discover. Friendship survives uncertainty Their shared labor does not solve every betrayal, but it gives Apollo a companion when he cannot bear the task alone.

Before Brian Kagwa’s birth

When Brian is two months old

Apollo’s first night out of Rikers Island

During the cemetery exhumation

Near dawn, during the exhumation