Drive-By Read Free

pillow.
    I didn’t want to cry, because I knew it would make Jimmy sad if he could look down and see all of us crying.
    I cried anyway.

5
    M om walked Mina to school.
    The morning kindergarten starts twenty minutes before the other grades. Usually I walk Mina to school, but sometimes when Mom has the day off, she walks Mina to kindergarten. Then she comes home and talks to me for a few minutes before I leave. I like going to school early so I can hang out with my friends or work the computers.
    After Mom and Mina left, I dug in the back of the closet for Jimmy’s old tennis shoes and put them on. I knew Mom wouldn’t want me to wear them. She’d say they were too big and would ruin my feet, or I’d fall and break an ankle.
    I wore them anyway.
    Someone knocked on the front door.
    I knew it was pesky Zev.
    I dodged out the back and ran down the alley. Itried to feel what Jimmy’s feet must have felt like in the shoes. He was a good runner.
    At Mountain Street School, plywood covered most of the windows. Graffiti covered the plywood. The names don’t make sense anymore. That doesn’t stop anyone from spraying on his own tag.
    Lots of schools in L.A. have metal detectors. Mountain Street School doesn’t have one yet. I try not to think about it, but sometimes you hear about kids sneaking guns to school.
    Mrs. Bilky stood in front of class showing us magnets. As if we hadn’t seen that a million times before sixth grade.
    Everyone was zoning out.
    I stared at Lisa Tosca. She was the prettiest girl in school. I had never spoken to her. Yet. I liked to plan ways to meet her. Maybe I’d win an award and she would come up and congratulate me. Or maybe I’d crawl up a tree and save her cat, if she had one.
    Gus Clayton sat in front of me in Mrs. Bilky’s class. Gus was my best friend since first grade. He hadn’t gone to Jimmy’s funeral. I wanted him to. But I understood. He had problems of his own.
    He turned to me.
    “I’m going to run away,” he said.
    “Don’t, Gus,” I said.
    I felt sorry for him. He had no one at home who cared enough about him to go looking for him if he did run away.
    “Gus,” Mrs. Bilky yelled at him, like he was the only kid in class not paying attention.
    I wanted to stand up and tell her that enough people were yelling at Gus already.
    “I was the one talking, Mrs. Bilky,” I said.
    “I see,” she said, as if it made sense that I was talking because my brother had died.
    She turned back to her magnets. I could hear the magnets clicking together on her desk.
    “You’re the fastest runner at school,” I whispered to Gus. “Stay, and maybe if you keep running you can win an award or even go to the Olympics.”
    “I’m going to run,” he said.
    I knew he didn’t mean track.

6
    I didn’t have time to worry about Gus. Things were changing too fast to think about anything but Mom and Mina and me.
    I walked home by myself. I watched the street now. Passing cars made me nervous.
    I had a strange feeling as I got close to the house.
    The house looked different.
    For one thing, all the shades were pulled. For another, I couldn’t hear the TV. I should have been able to hear Nickelodeon. Mina was always watching it.
    I decided to check the back of the house first.
    I walked around to the alley, then climbed over the fence into Mrs. Washington’s yard.
    I know her dog. Spider. I think everyone does. His legs don’t match his body. He looks as if he’swalking on stilts. His body is round and his legs are spindly and long like a spider. That’s how he got his name.
    Spider wagged his tail. It’s as long and as skinny as his legs. I guess he thought I was coming to play with him.
    I stood on his doghouse.
    Spider barked and tried to jump on top of his doghouse with me.
    I looked over the fence.
    I couldn’t see anyone in the kitchen window. It was too dark inside to see anything, really.
    Mom should have been making dinner. She always spends a long time cooking dinner. She’s