The Tales of the Steel Quarters

A single father raised his two kids. The girl and boy fought all the time. Many times, they fought so bad that Ms. Maimee would call the dad home from work. Fed up with this behavior, the dad gives an ultimatum: “Fight again and no more electronics!” They try their hardest not to fight, to no avail. Right in the middle of what seems like the biggest fight ever, they are met by an unexpected visitor: the Devil! She is ready to drag them to a place where they will burn. She only sets them free when they profess to be kind to each other. A valuable lesson was learned.

In the city of Crestview, Florida, there stood an old steel mill. There were several African American families that live near it in a place they called the Steel Quarters. These are stories told by them and passed down from generation to generation. Two girls are asked by their mother to stay in the house and not to eat from the peach tree. They disobey and go out anyway. On their way back in the house, they meet with an unexpected visitor: the One-Legged Man. He chases them in order to force them to tell the truth about their disobedience. The girls learn their lesson in the end.

The Bashara girls, Aliyah and Amirah, have been getting into trouble at home and school right before spring break. Their parents take them on a family retreat to help their behavior. The first day, they run away to a small town to make their parents worry as payback for making them be on the retreat.