Atlanta native Dana Lynn Yarboro spends much of her conflicted “girlhood” tracking down her mother’s husband’s other wife, Laverne, and their daughter, Chaurisse. Laverne and Chaurisse are ignorant of James’s other family’s existence, but Dana and her mother, Gwen, are aware of them and comfort themselves with this knowledge.

Dana Lynn is five years old when she discovers that her family is considered abnormal. Asked to draw a portrait of her family in class, she includes her mother; her father, James; her father’s friend, Raleigh; and James’s other wife and daughter. When James sees the portrait, he tells Gwen to leave the room so he can talk to Dana Lynn alone. Gwen resists, telling him Dana Lynn is “just a child” (7); she is worried he’ll use “his belt” on Dana Lynn as he’s done before. However, she gives in and leaves Dana and James alone. James tells Dana Lynn she cannot talk about his other family in public; she is his “secret” and must keep his existence quiet. He then gives Dana Lynn some two-dollar bills, and the three of them eat dinner together.

Soon after, Dana Lynn theorizes that the reason she is a secret is because of her missing teeth.