Free Eggplant Alley (9781593731410) by D. Cataneo Page B

overalls, pigs in the living room. Lester said he and his mother moved to the Bronx to be near his grandmother, who lived in Washington Heights.
    â€œMy daddy thought it was a good idea, to be around family and whatnot. He’s away,” Lester said.
    â€œOh, yeah?”
    â€œOn business.”
    Under normal circumstances, Nicky would have allowed the conversation to die right there. It was getting dark. Supper would be ready. Television shows beckoned. And Nicky was not fond of talking to strangers. He was usually as talkative as a mummy. But because Checkers died that morning, Nicky was in no hurry to go upstairs to the apartment, now an apartment with plenty of gloom and without a dog. One thing ledto another. So at this moment in time on the steps, Nicky was a regular chatterbox.
    Nicky said, “My brother is away, too.”
    â€œVery interesting.”
    â€œHe’s at college.”
    Nicky was not happy about lying, but he had learned his lesson about the truth. The truth can hurt—him. He had no inkling whether this odd-looking duck was one of Us or one of Them.
    He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so Nicky said, “Did you notice how the elevator stinks?”
    â€œYes. Like a barn.”
    â€œThat’s Eggplant Alley for you,” Nicky said.
    â€œWhat is?”
    â€œA stinky elevator. That’s Eggplant Alley.”
    â€œWhere is Eggplant Alley?”
    â€œYou’re sitting in it, pal. You live in it.” Nicky liked calling the country boy “pal,” to show him how jaunty city kids talked.
    Lester twisted around and looked up at the archway over the steps that led to the courtyard. Soot-streaked gold-colored lettering spelled out:
    HUDS N VIEW G RDENS
    Lester said, “I thought this was Hudson View Gardens.”
    â€œNobody calls it that. If you called the cops and told them to come quick to Hudson View Gardens, they wouldn’t come here.”
    â€œVery interesting.”
    Nicky said, “There’s a lot to know about living in these parts.”
    â€œYes. Very interesting.”
    Nicky said, “It’s different down here in the city, you know.”
    â€œIt surely is different in the city.”
    â€œYeah, and getting worse every day,” Nicky said, sounding weary, old, and wizened. “You got to be careful around here. This is becoming a rough neighborhood. Lots of crime. Keep your doors locked. Don’t ever let anybody into your apartment. Don’t talk to strangers. If you see a guy named Mr. Feeley—run, don’t walk. Don’t trust anybody. Keep an eye out for shady characters.”
    â€œOh, that one I already know,” Lester said. “I know that. Right after we moved in, something happened when I was practicing riding the elevator.”
    â€œYou practiced riding the elevator?”
    â€œYes. I wanted to work on summoning the elevator to the lobby. So I went down to the lobby and just as I got to the lobby I saw the elevator door was closing. I reached in to stop the door with my hand.”
    â€œNever do that.”
    â€œYes. My mama told already told me. At any rate, just as I reached in, I caught sight of a smelly filthy character in the elevator. His clothes were ripped and his face was smeared with dirt. And he threatened me.”
    Nicky said, “Threatened?”
    â€œYes. He sounded just like the gangsters in the movies. He said, ‘I’ll let ya have it.’ Just like that.”
    â€œWould you know this guy if you saw him again?”
    â€œOh, certainly.”
    Nicky didn’t know what to add to this. So he said, “Why donchya fill me in about the country.”
    Lester shrugged. “We lived in a house. With a lot of land. Not a lot of people. I had a tree house.”
    â€œYou had a tree house?” Nicky said. He thought tree houses only existed in children’s books. He had never met anyone who actually owned one.
    â€œOh yes. I