Tell us something about Bedrock Faith.

The story is about a guy named Stew Pot Reeves who gets out of prison after 14 years and moves back home with his widowed mom. She lives in Parkland, a middle-class African-American neighborhood on Chicago’s far South Side. Stew Pot’s staid neighbors are worried about his being back since he was quite the terror before being sent away. Neighbors soon find out that Stew Pot has had a religious conversion while in prison. With his newfound religious fervor, he appoints himself the moral judge of Parkland. He gets into it with one neighbor after another, each encounter escalating in intensity and violence, leaving many community residents irrevocably changed.

So what do you plan to do with yourself, now that you’re home?” said Mrs. Motley. She was sitting at the kitchen table opposite Stew Pot who had draped his peacoat over the back of his chair. Along with a silver tea kettle, the china cups, saucers, and sugar bowl were arranged on the table between them. His apology, which he had just finished, had been long and rambling, and they had now moved to discussing his life situation.

“I’m going to get a job,” he replied. “And I mean honest work. Mom says there’s a Help Wanted sign at the car wash over on the drag. Probably just part-time, but it could be a start. No more crime for me. This change is for real.”