Free Drive-By by Lynne Ewing Page B

play with him.
    I did once. Mumblety-peg. I got in trouble for playing with a jackknife. Then I got in trouble for making Zev pull the peg out of the ground with his teeth. That’s what the loser has to do in mumblety-peg. Try to explain that to your mom.
    Zev followed me into the kitchen. Casseroles and cakes lined the kitchen counter. I don’t understand why people eat after funerals.
    “Do you want something to eat?” Zev asked. “My mother says there’s nothing better for a boy than that he should eat.”
    Zev’s mom had brought over her baked-potatopudding. Usually I can eat three helpings, but I didn’t feel like eating without Jimmy calling me a sloppy pig.
    I went outside.
    Zev started to follow me.
    I turned at the door.
    “Zev, do you mind?” I asked.
    “Mind what?” he said.
    “I want to be alone.”
    “My mother said you would need a friend to talk to,” Zev said.
    I almost said, “Yeah, well I don’t see Gus here,” but I stopped. Zev didn’t have any friends. He wasn’t funny and cool like Gus. Zev looked like he believed what his mom said about nothing being better for a boy than eating. He weighed as much as Gus and me together.
    “Not tonight,” I said instead.
    I went outside and sat on the swing near the garage.
    Mina followed me outside and crawled on my lap.
    That’s when loud music came like thunder down the alley.
    I didn’t have to ask Mina if it sounded like the same music we heard the night Jimmy was killed.She sucked in air in a long sigh and pinched my arm.
    The music thumped my heart around inside my rib cage.
    A blue Oldsmobile rolled slowly down the alley toward us. Tires crunched over rocks and gravel.
    I hid Mina behind a bush; then I ducked inside the garage.
    I peeked out the dusty window.
    The car stopped.
    I couldn’t breathe, my chest hurt so badly. My leg jumped all over with nerves.
    Lamar Callas sat in the passenger seat. Ice Breaker Joe drove the car.
    The back car door opened. A guy wearing a baseball cap jumped out. He wore a bandanna over his face like a bandit.
    He walked into the backyard. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t think who.
    All of a sudden, he ran back to the car. His back was to me, so I couldn’t tell if he had something in his arms or not.
    The tires grabbed the gravel and spun. The car sped away, throwing gravel all over the alley.A spray of pebbles pinged the window in front of me.
    I ran to tell Mina she could come out from behind the bush.
    Mina was gone.

3
    “ M ina!”
    I looked around the bushes, then on the other side of the garage and in the alley.
    I ran down the side yard. Leaves and branches on the big hibiscus bush scraped my arms and face.
    The front gate was locked. I didn’t think Mina could unlock the gate by herself.
    I looked up and down the street anyway.
    “Mina!”
    I ran to the backyard.
    Mom came flying out the back door. The screen door pounded behind her.
    “What happened?”
    “Some guys came by and I hid Mina. Now I can’t find her.”
    “Maybe she’s in the alley,” Mom said.
    We both ran until our feet crunched the gravel in the alley.
    Broken glass shone like silver and jewels in the moonlight.
    I thought I saw Mina picking up a piece of glass. That would be just like her, collecting jewels when we’re going crazy looking for her.
    I ran that way. Mom ran behind me.
    “Mina?”
    A poinsettia bush bobbing in the wind made the shadow.
    Mom put her hand on my shoulder. I wished she hadn’t. I could feel her cold fingers trembling against my skin.
    “Mina always wanders off,” I said. “She does it all the time. You better talk to her.”
    People were coming out to the backyard.
    “What’s wrong?” Zev’s mother asked. She always wore a head scarf and a long skirt.
    “Go on home,” I yelled. “All of you. Haven’t you seen enough?”
    “Tito,” Mom said. “They just want to help.”
    Mom tried to put her arm around me. I jerked away and ran down the alley.
    “Timothy Thomas!”