She is hesitant

Cassandra stood in the doorway, posture perfect but rubbing her hands nervously as she considered the suggestion. She smiled at her glowering father, opting for the paternal approval. "I won't if you think I shouldn't, daddy," the girl stammered. "I want to be safe."

"Is this the sort of daughter you want to raise?" her mother snapped, gesturing at the red-faced teen. "Scared of her own shadow?"

"A little fear is healthy for a girl," Harold replied as Sharon stormed over to the countertop. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Hospitality, Harold," the mother replied, preparing a plate of baked goods. "Like it or not, we have new neighbors, and I intend to welcome them as people, whether they're negroes or chinamen or eskimoes ["1950's!"-ed]. Cassie, you're coming with me." Sharon took her daughter's hand as she passed the fuming man of the house on her way to the door.

"I've never heard you fight with daddy like that," Cassie observed as she walked with her mother down the stairs and across the lawn. "That was scary!"

"Your father..." Sharon grumbled, shaking her head. "He's so afraid of what I could do, and now you too," She sighed as she saw Cassie didn't understand. "Why do you think it is that white men are so afraid to lose their women, their wives and daughters, to the negro if he was so obviously inferior? Is it that we might not agree if it were our choice?"

"But they could be mean and try to hurt us," Cassie pointed out, cutting her argument short as they approached the door. "Daddy just wants to protect me."

"Yeah, from what?" her mother smirked as she rang the doorbell, then arranged her dress to expose more cleavage. Cassie raised her eyebrows as her mother enthusiastically greeted the middle-aged man who answered the door. "Welcome, neighbor! I'm Sharon White and this is my teenaged daughter Cassandra. We wanted to come over and give you a taste of our treats!"

"I'm Franklin, it's a charm to meet you lovely ladies," he replied in a deep voice with a severe southern twang. "Won't you come inside?" Sharon smiled and took his hand, and Cassie followed reluctantly, but not before glancing back at their house and seeing her displeased father observing from the window. The girl smiled and waggled her fingers in farewell.