Bang Read Free

lands right in front of the man.
    â€œWhat’s your problem?” he says. “You got nothing better to do than harass people who are using a
public
park?”
    â€œYou’re right,” the man says. “It is a public park. Which means little children have a right to play here without some ignorant fool like you bullying them.”
    I get off my swing and go over to JD. “Come on,” I say. “Let’s get out of here. We don’t need any trouble.”
    â€œI see your friend has more brains than you,” the man says to JD. “Because if you don’t go, I
will
call the police and I
will
report you for marijuana use.”
    JD just laughs. “Get real,” he says. “The cops aren’t arresting anyone for smoking anymore.” It’s true. They’re still busting people for growing it and selling it, but they’re not making arrests for just smoking it. JD explained it to me one time. It has something to do with a Supreme Court case that happened, and now the government is taking another look at the law. While it does, the cops have stopped arresting people for simple possession.
    â€œIf I call the cops, they’ll take your names and they’ll take your pot,” the man says. That’s true too. If the cops catch you, they write everything down with the idea that as soon as the law is clarified, they can charge you. In the meantime, you’re out your weed.
    JD swears again. Then he says what I’ve been saying the whole time: “Let’s get out of here.” He swaggers up the path ahead of me to the swimming pool and disappears behind the building where the change rooms are.
    I’m right behind him until the guy saysto me, “You should think about your life and what you’re doing with it. When it’s all over, what do you want people to say about you? There was a guy who really accomplished something? Or there was a guy who was just taking up space?”
    I stare at him. He stares right back at me. Then he turns away. What a jerk, I think. He doesn’t even know me and he’s coming on all heavy with me. I raise my hand and point at him. I make like I’m pulling the trigger of a gun. Bang, mister, I say to myself. Now who’s taking up space?
    I hurry up the path to catch JD. I figure that’s the end of that. And it is. For one day.

Chapter Four
    I keep stacking and arranging soup cans in the supermarket while I remember what happened the next day. I can see it like I’m watching a movie.
    It goes like this: The next day, I ride over to JD’s house on my bike to get him. We’re going to hang around, you know, take it easy on a September Sunday. School has just started, and so far we don’t have much homework. So why not make themost of it, especially when it’s nice and cool—I’m wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and JD is wearing a big, floppy, long-sleeved T-shirt that hangs down almost to his knees—but sunny and bright? Oh yeah, and I’m also hoping to catch a glimpse of Leah. I do. She takes our picture. I’m hoping maybe she’ll come out with us. She doesn’t. She’s going somewhere with one of her girlfriends.
    We leave JD’s house, ride our bikes a couple of blocks, duck down an alley behind a medical building that’s closed, and smoke up. Then we argue about what to do. I want to head downtown, maybe hang out at an arcade for a while. JD wants to go to the beach, where it’s nice and relaxed. Where he says there will be girls sitting in the sun, working at keeping the color in their faces. He says he saw some girls down there the other day. Pretty girls. He says he should try to meet them. He’s really into the idea. Me, I can’t imagine being interested in anyone except Leah. But of course we end up at the beach. Welock up our bikes. We smoke up again and goof around over by the tennis courts, where three girls are sitting