Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.

Fort is 11 years old when his aunt Netta dies. Aunt Netta was always kind and understanding toward Fort, and the loss affects him deeply. He is at the funeral when he becomes overwhelmed by the sadness around him and has to escape. While running away from his pain, Fort runs into a magical man named Gary the Griot, who sees Fort as the perfect person to teach how to collect joy. Gary enlists Fort’s help and takes him to the “In Between,” a beautiful place in which all worlds can be visited and seen: “Galaxies. Nebulas. Clusters of suns that appear and disappear with every step” (12). Fort’s story of collecting joy from all the other stories in the world effectively encapsulates the collection and emphasizes The Joys of Black Boyhood through a fantasy lens.

Fort and Gary the Griot travel through the In Between, collecting joy from every story they come across. Fort notices that “some of those (stories) fe[el] […] kinda sad” (153), and Gary the Griot points out that joy cannot be felt or appreciated without sadness, anger, and fear to accompany it. This becomes an important lesson in learning to appreciate all of life’s emotions and how joy can be made even more wonderful by the presence of challenging times.