Then, the water rises even more and they escape the house though a hole they create themselves. The water has risen so much that they are forced to move into the attic. The storm begins and things seem fine until the water seeps in under the floors. There is an argument between Skeet and Claude about having China and the puppies in the house, but Skeet wins. The victory is short-lived though, as the hurricane moves in. China must then finish the fight and even though her breast is badly injured, she wins. They have the dog fight, and Boss is hurt badly. He wants to determine whether or not he gets one of China’s puppies, as his dog sired the litter she just had.Īnother friend, Marquise, offers up his cousin’s dog, Boss, to fight instead of China. They get into an argument and Manny’s cousin, Rico, demands that they settle the score with a dog fight.

When she sees her brothers again, Skeetah knows that Manny is the reason Esch is upset.

All of his attention is focused on taking care of China he is not concerned with the oncoming hurricane.Įsch tries to hide her pregnancy from her family and when she meets Manny in a bathroom, he knows she is pregnant by feeling her swollen belly. China has some issues with the puppies-at one point, she tries to abandon them-but Skeet nurses them carefully. In order to protect them from parvovirus, Sketch needs to break into a white person’s house and steal medicine. These boards are mostly picked over from the house that their grandparents used to live in on their property.Ĭhina has four puppies and a fifth that is dead at birth. They aren’t able to stockpile very much food the materials they use to store water are repurposed bottles and the wood they use to board up the windows of the house are misshapen and leave gaps. However, no one is taking the impending storm as seriously as Claude. The first ten chapters trace the lead up to the hurricane and show the family making various preparations for the storm on their father’s orders. We learn that Esch has a sexual relationship with Randall’s friend Manny, and later in the story it is revealed that she is pregnant with his child. He uses China to fight, and her puppies will make excellent fighting dogs as well. China is only friendly with Skeet and is his ticket to some financial freedom he could sell China’s puppies for nearly $800. The story begins with Skeetah’s pit bull, named China, preparing to give birth to puppies.

Salvage the bones