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He grabbed a blank envelope from the glove box and neatly wrote “Olivia Elliot” across its face. He folded a sheet of blank notebook paper, slipped it inside the envelope, and sealed it. Then he got out of his car, locked it down, and crossed the street.
There were plenty of kids, girls as well as boys, out of doors, though the sun had dropped and dusk had arrived. School was nearly done for the year, and if there was any parental supervision to begin with, it was even more lax this time of year. As Qui
Qui
“Hey,” said Qui
A couple of the boys snickered and looked Qui
“He might be new in the neighborhood,” added Qui
They continued to ignore him, so he walked on. He saw some girls on the next corner, one of them sitting atop a mailbox, and he decided to see if he would fare better with them.
He heard, “Hey, you guys!” in a straight, white voice, and then, “He might be new in the neighborhood!” in the same kind of voice, and then he heard the boys’ laughter behind him. Qui
“Mister,” said a voice behind him, and he turned. It was the kid on the bike, who had followed him down the street.
“Yeah.”
“You lookin’ for Mark?”
Qui
The kid pulled up alongside him and stopped the bike. He was young, lean, with an inquisitive face. “Your face is all pink. You all right?”
“I’m fine.”
“You mad, huh?”
“No, I’m all right.”
“Shoot, they’re only messin’ with you because you’re white.”
“Y’all think there’s something wrong with that?”
“I don’t know. It’s just, we don’t see too many white dudes around here, is all it is. And when we do see ’em, they act like they scared.”
“I’m not scared,” said Qui
“Yeah, okay. But why you lookin’ to get up with me?”
“You’re Mark Elliot, then.”
“Yeah, I’m Mark.”
“I was looking for your mother.” Qui
“You a police?”
“No.”
“A bill collector, right? ’Cause, listen, she left out of here a while ago and I don’t know where she’s at.”
“She’s go
“I prob’ly won’t see her. I’m go
“Listen, Mark. I’m not looking to hurt her; I’m trying to give her something. She entered a contest. A raffle, you know what that is?”
“Like they do at church.”
Qui
“What kind of prize?”
“I’m not allowed to say what it is to anyone but her. And I need to put this in her hand.”
“She’s out gettin’ a pack of cigarettes.”
“Thought you didn’t know where she was.”
“Just give it here,” said Mark, reaching out his hand. “I’ll make sure she gets it.”
“I can’t. It’s against the rules. I’ll drop it by later.” Qui
“We in two-B,” said Mark, and his features dropped then. He knew he had made a mistake. He kicked ineffectually at some gravel in the street. “Dag,” he said under his breath.
“I’ll come back,” said Qui
Qui
“What’s your name?” said Mark, cruising alongside Qui
“Can’t tell you that,” said Qui
“I told you mines.”
Qui
“Is it fast?” said Mark, who had stopped his bike and was standing behind Qui
“Yeah, it’s fast,” said Qui
“You live out in Maryland, huh?”
Qui
“You don’t want to talk to me no more, huh?”
Qui
“If I’m good, then why’d you want to go and do me like you did?”
“Like how?”
“You tricked me, mister.”
“Listen, I gotta get goin’.”
Qui
Qui
Just before Be
“Mario,” said Qui
“Damn, boy, that was fast.”
“I know it,” said Qui
Minutes later, driving across Be
Qui
So Qui
MARIO Durham noticed that the letter J had fallen off the word Jordan, printed real big across one of his sneakers, while he was riding the bus down Mi
Durham took off the shoe still had a J on it and worked at the letter with his fingernail until it started to peel at the edge. He tore it off. Good. Now both of his shoes looked alike.
He was still holding this shoe when he heard a girl laughing, and he looked around to see these two girls, sharing one of the seats a couple of rows up. They were staring at him, holding that shoe. A guy who wasn’t with them, sitting nearby, was looking around to see what they were laughing at, and now he was looking back at Mario and he was kinda smiling, too.