"I can't decide which color I am. I mean, my father was a black, a real black--oh, he had some white blood, but he was a black--and my mother was a white, and I'm neither one. See, my father really hated my mother because she was white. But he also loved her. But I think she loved his being black much more than she loved him. Well, where does that leave me? I never have figured out." "Brown," he said gently, standing behind her chair. "Shit color." "The color of the earth."