Jerome lives in Brewster Place with his mother, Mildred. Mildred “wanted life to be straight and simple” (33), working during the week and partying on the weekend. However, Jerome was born with an intellectual disability, which Mildred assumed was “punishment” for partying and skipping church. Against the Board of Education’s suggestions, she decided to keep Jerome at home. By the time the boy was five, he still wasn’t potty-trained, and Mildred was struggling to care for him. Mildred decided to send him to a school after all and avoided visiting it in advance “so her conscience could be clear” (34). Then, she planned a big going-away party for Jerome.

At the party, Mildred’s friend Bob got drunk and began sitting on the piano and playing it with his butt. When another partygoer tried to get him to stop, Bob seized a lamp and swung it wildly. The light moved around the room and across Jerome’s face as he ate ice cream on the couch. In the commotion, the boy got up and sat at the piano, where he began “sending out a boogie-woogie that could have put even the likes of Jelly Roll Morton or Count Basie to shame” (35).