LeRoy

Leroy’s mother was raised in Georgia. She has family there still. Once she brought her sons all the way from NY to visit. Leroy’s cousins shied away but also watched him with fascination. He seemed like the Bad Cousin, an urban tough.
Is he an urban tough? I suppose he is. He’s complicated though, and likeable. He’s ready to enjoy himself. He likes people. I like LeRoy very much and I’m not at all surprised that Julia does too.
LeRoy and Taliq are friends. They’ve known each other for years. Taliq is LeRoy’s electricity. LeRoy is Taliq’s translator.
Neither LeRoy nor Taliq have fathers at home, but LeRoy has an older brother. True, he’s too earnest for LeRoy’s tastes; too diligent, too straight-line, too timid, too righteous. No matter. It’s nice for LeRoy. That older brother is part of the reason LeRoy has a better chance of becoming a functional adult than Taliq has.
I’m cheering for LeRoy. I’d like to meet up with him later and see how he turns out.

TALIQ

Taliq can barely speak. He's a furnace burning. How did he get to be that way?
Taliq is based on a real person. I fear that person may be dead or in jail now, but maybe not. The inarticulate intensity he radiated back when I knew him may have receded some. Maybe he learned how to fit himself into something less than his potential but more than his opportunities.
You don't know this from the book, but the fictional Taliq's mother is a road-construction worker. Like Taliq, she isn't expressive. Rage seizes her from time to time and she beats Taliq. He lets her. No one else can touch him, but he lets her because he needs to have some indication that she cares about him. The real "Taliq"'s mother had a different, but somewhat similar job. I don't know much about their real relationship.
Taliq, in a way a minor character in Across the Bridge, is one of my favorites. I used to dream about him. I would have loved to know how to throw him a life-line.