Squeaky isn’t expected to do much around the house, but she is responsible for looking after her brother Raymond, who is intellectually disabled. People in their Harlem neighborhood often mock Raymond, but Squeaky doesn’t hesitate to stand up for him. She’s not afraid to retaliate physically, and she’s an incredibly fast runner, so she can just run away if things get too heated. In fact, Squeaky wins every race she competes in.. A girl named Gretchen has been bragging that she’s going to beat Squeaky in the May Day race this year, but Squeaky finds this is laughable.
Squeaky often takes walks around the neighborhood, training for races and performing breathing exercises, and Raymond usually tags along. Raymond often causes scenes in public, drawing the ire of neighbors to whom Squeaky must apologize. But Squeaky doesn’t mind him as long as he doesn’t interfere with her training. Squeaky is unabashedly committed to practicing running, unlike her classmate Cynthia, who pretends that she’s naturally gifted at academics, spelling, and piano rather than admitting that she practices.
Presently, Squeaky does breathing exercises as she walks up Broadway with Raymond. Suddenly, she spots Gretchen and her sidekicks Mary Louise and Rosie approaching. Mary Louise used to be Squeaky’s friend, but she became mean once she started hanging out with Gretchen. Rosie is especially cruel to Raymond, which Squeaky thinks is ridiculous since Rosie is fat and unintelligent. Mary Louise and Rosie begin to taunt Squeaky and Raymond as Gretchen smiles disingenuously, but the girls back off and walk away when Squeaky stands up to them.
At the neighborhood’s annual May Day celebration at the park, Squeaky and Raymond arrive late because the races are the last event of the day. The main attraction is the May Pole dance, which Squeaky’s mother always wants her to participate in despite Squeaky’s lack of interest in dressing up in fancy clothes and acting like a fairy. Squeaky remembers feeling foolish when she had to dress up as a strawberry and dance for a school play. Although this made her parents proud, Squeaky only wants to be herself—a “poor Black girl” with a passion for running.
Once Squeaky gets Raymond settled in a swing, she goes to get her lucky race number, seven. A teacher named Mr. Pearson is the one who pins the runners’ numbers on. He deeply offends Squeaky when he suggests that she should intentionally lose the race so that other girls (especially Gretchen) can have a chance. Stomping away from Mr. Pearson, Squeaky goes to lie in the grass by the track and wishes that she were back in the countryside where her family once lived. Once it’s time for the 50-yard dash, Squeaky and Gretchen take their places at the starting line. Squeaky notices Raymond crouching on the other side of the fence, mimicking the runners, but she feels that yelling at him would be too exhausting. Instead, Squeaky begins to daydream like she does before every race, imagining that she’s weightlessly flying above a beach and smelling the apples from the orchard near her old house.
When the gun goes off, Squeaky snaps out of the dream and begins to run, blocking out her surroundings and encouraging herself to win. But Squeaky is surprised to see Gretchen keeping pace with her and even more surprised to see Raymond running with them on the other side of the fence. She almost stops to watch him on his first run. Squeaky ends up winning the race, but when she sees that Gretchen also overshot the finish line and hears the race announcer’s loudspeaker cut out after “In first place,” Squeaky wonders which of them actually won. Noticing Gretchen’s controlled breathing technique as she cools down, Squeaky thinks that she actually likes her a little.
While Mr. Pearson and the race judges argue over times on the stopwatches, Raymond rattles the fence to get Squeaky’s attention before gracefully scaling it and running over to her. Squeaky realizes that Raymond is a great runner—after all, he always keeps up with her when she practices, and he even emulates her breathing exercises. Squeaky no longer cares about the race results; she thinks that she might quit running altogether and coach Raymond instead. She figures that she could win the spelling bee against Cynthia or become a great piano player if she put her mind to it. Squeaky realizes that she’s earned a room full of medals and awards, while Raymond has nothing to call his own.
Squeaky jumps up and down with excitement about her new plans as Raymond approaches, but the crowd assumes that she’s reacting to the race results: she’s been declared the winner, with Gretchen in close second. Squeaky looks over at Gretchen and smiles, thinking that Gretchen is a good runner—she could even help coach Raymond. Gretchen gives Squeaky a congratulatory nod and smiles back. Squeaky thinks that this is as genuine a smile as two girls could share, given that girls are usually preoccupied with pretending that they’re fairies, strawberries, or other things besides people who are worthy of respect.
