Pumpkin Dropped From a Balcony (Auditory Imagery)
Francis and Michael happen to be around the corner during Anton's shooting. While they know they should run at the sound of the first shots, the boys stay still. Michael comments: "Even when we heard more shots. And then from around the corner of our building footsteps running towards us. He had just turned into our view when there was another shot, and a sound like a pumpkin dropped from a balcony at Halloween, and the runner fell." In this example of auditory imagery, Michael immerses the reader in his experience by likening the wet, heavy thudding sound of Anton's body hitting the ground to a carved pumpkin falling from a balcony.
Rubber Stink (Olfactory Imagery)
After Anton is shot, Francis and Michael run from the crime scene. Michael comments: "We hadn’t got very far when a cop car raced past us, followed by another that U-turned and screeched to a halt just behind us with a rubber stink." In this example of olfactory imagery, Chariandy enhances the realism of the scene by detailing the strong burnt-rubber scent of car tires skidding to a halt.
I Can Hear Her Creaks (Auditory Imagery)
In the summer Anton is shot, Michael's neighborhood is full of police who are searching for the suspects. Michael can sense the alertness of the police, whose nerves are on edge from fear and suspicion of the young people in the neighborhood. Michael too is on high alert, noting in detail a cop he recognizes from her patrols of the area. Michael comments: "I can hear her creaks when she subtly adjusts her stance. Maybe the equipment on her belt, the black nightstick, the holstered gun." In this example of auditory imagery, Chariandy brings the reader into Michael's trauma-informed hyperawareness of the deadly weapons on the police officer's belt.
Smells of Flowers and Mud and Dung (Olfactory Imagery)
When Michael and Francis are very young, their mother takes them on a trip to Trinidad, where she is from. They travel in a car away from the blue water and white sand to an impoverished village in the middle of the island called Ste. Madeleine. Michael recalls: "There were the smells of flowers, thick in my nose and throat, and also mud and dung and decay." In this example of olfactory imagery, Chariandy fills out the scene by detailing the pungent mix of scents the young Michael inhales as he has his first experience of a humid tropical environment.
