THE FRIENDSHIP takes place in rural Mississippi in the mist of the Great Depression in 1933.  Our narrator Cassie Logan along with her brothers Stacey, Christopher-John, and Little Man are headed home when an elderly neighbor stops them for a favor. The neighbor asks if they can stop by the Wallaces store for headache medicine.  The children have been warned not to go to the Wallaces store because "They said that the Wallaces didnt treat our folks right and it was best to stay clear of them." The owner of the store was a white man named John Wallace. When they go to purchase the needed medicine, they are met with animosity and little tolerance.

On their way out, they meet Mr. Tom Bee, an elderly man of their community.  He use to be a sharecropper, but does more fishing than sharecropping in his old age. He asks the children to wait for him while he goes into the store for some sardines. The sons of the storeowner harass Mr. Bee.  After repeated requests to speak with the owner, Me. Bee asks for the owner by his first name.  This was considered a grave offense, not adding "mister" to the owners name.  Mr. Wallace's son Dewberry is angered beyond belief. "You might be of a forgetful mind at yo' age, but you forgettin the wrong thing when you forgettin who you are. A nigger, nothing but a nigger." John Wallace steps in the store and tells his sons he will take care of the situation. John discusses with Tom about addressing him properly in front of others. Tom Bee just laughs and walks out of the store. 

Tom Bee tells the children about how he saved the store owners life not once, but twice. Tom says that John and him use to be good friends.  After their delivery the children and Tom headed home.  In order to get home, they have to pass the Wallaces store again.  As they pass the store again, Tom Bee stops to get tobacco.  He asks the children to wait outside for him.  Tom enters the store and calls John by his first name again. Unfortunately, there were a group of white men in the store at the time. The men become irate at his behavior and pressures John into taking action towards Tom's disrespect.

Friendship, peer pressure, and racism are portrayed in this story in varying degrees.  An old friendship between two people is tested because of the times in which they live. The peer pressure is intense to conform to what society believed was true. Terms such as Old Uncle, boy, and n______ were part of the everyday vernacular of the whites of the South. The pencil illustrations by Mark Ginsburg portray the characters in clothing that fit the rural setting. Taylor brings to us a vignette of a common scenario  repeated over and over again in the South.  A powerful story that evokes a myriad of emotions.