give a brief summary of the factual content of this passage—that…

give a brief summary of the factual content of this passage—that is, what the text directly states—as it proceeds from beginning to end. What situation is being described here and by whom? What happens in that situation? Respond to this prompt in no more than three complete sentences.

“We both giggled. Really giggled. Suddenly, in just a pulse beat, twenty years disappeared and all of it came rushing back. The big girls (whom we called gar girls—Roberta’s misheard word for the evil stone faces described in a civics class) there dancing in the orchard, the ploppy mashed potatoes, the double weenies, the Spam with pineapple. We went into the coffee shop holding on to one another and I tried to think why we were glad to see each other this time and not before. Once, twelve years ago, we passed like strangers. A black girl and a white girl meeting in a Howard Johnson’s on the road and having nothing to say. One in a blue and white triangle waitress hat—the other on her way to see Hendrix. Now we were behaving like sisters separated for much too long. Those four short months were nothing in time. Maybe it was the thing itself. Just being there, together. Two little girls who knew what nobody else in the world knew—how not to ask questions. How to believe what had to be believed. There was politeness in that reluctance and generosity as well. Is your mother sick too? No, she dances all night. Oh—and an understanding nod”.

Please note that we haven’t reached “Recitatif”‘s so-called “deeper meaning” yet; for now, please stick to “just the facts.” Beginning with a literal description of what happens in the passage will force you to confront your own confusion—”What the heck is going on here?!”—and slow down the interpretive process.