Bobby tells the man what he wants to hear. Behind his cigarette smoke screen, he tells him a story about Valaida Snow, who travels in an orchid-colored Mercedes, wearing an orchid-colored suit with a monkey wearing an orchid-colored jacket and cap. Bobby spins lies until the crowd applauds. Bobby doesn’t tell the truth about the brutality of enslavement and how Mother Africa beckons her children to return. 

The man who lives in the house hears Clara Jackson, his cleaner, in the bathroom turning the faucets on and off. When it’s quiet, she polishes. Most people only see the shine and they don’t examine what’s underneath. When she’s in a rush, she only wipes the faucets, mirrors, and the metal collar around the drain—a trick she learns when she first moves to the city and works in big downtown hotels. He lowers the newspaper to look at her when she passes through the living room and she knows he’s watching. 

When she first comes over, he is leaving for work in the mornings and they are wary of each other. He was overwhelmed by how quickly she moves, but now they understand one another. She replaces a rack in the oven and when she bends over he notices the creases in her hair which grays over the years. He is tempted to touch it countless times and one day he tells her that a Black woman once saved his life. She gives him a reprehending look and he welcomes her to sit down for tea so he can tell the story. She asks to go home early to get ready for Christmas and he thinks about how they have grown old together over the years, avoiding one another as she cleans his musty rooms. One day, he will die and no one will know until she knocks on a Thursday morning and receives no reply. 

In the camps, they kill everyone, not just the Jews. The Black woman he meets there had been a dancer and could play any instrument. The Queen of Denmark had honored her with a golden trumpet. She saved his life there when he was just thirteen. The guards are beating him when a woman’s voice screamed at the men to stop. The Black woman rushes into the room and puts her arms around the boy and the guards begin to beat her, too. She drags the boy back to the barracks. The guards knock the boy unconscious and the last he sees of the woman is of her being dragged away kicking by the guards. Clara listens and then returns to her cleaning. He seals her holiday bonus in an envelope and places it on the counter. On Christmas Day, he eats alone and thinks of Clara surrounded by her family.