Moon Runner Read Free Page B

knew Mina had beaten her in the fifty meter?
    In the afternoon, storm clouds let loose with a quick little rain. By the time PE started, the sky sparkled with light. The dark clouds made the new leaves look extra green, the stucco walls of the school pinker. Stepping onto the wet grass, Mina found herself looking forward to running.
    Then a cloud covered the sun and she shivered.
    The cloud moved and the sun shone. The arc of a rainbow appeared. Mina stretched, raising both arms high into the freshly washed air.
    Once again, Coach sent the boys off with the high-school helpers and grouped the girls according to height.
    The class C girls lined up. Coach wouldn’t time them today. They’d all run together. Mina didn’t want to stand next to Ruth, but Ruth came over to her. “Just think
finish line,
” she advised.
    When Coach blew the whistle, Mina jetted forward. She dashed over the wet grass, the clouds overhead, the rainbow shining, each precious instant pushing her onward:
one-two-three-four-five-six . . .
    At the last second, Mina sensed Ruth next to her and turned to look. The look slowed her just the teeniest bit. When she arrived at the white stripe, Coach shouted, “Tie!” He held up Mina’s arm and Ruth’s.
    Ruth stared at Mina, her mouth open as she panted for breath.
    Mina had once heard a strange word:
unquiet.
It meant more than “not quiet.” It meant deeply uneasy. She was unquiet now, with Ruth staring at her, looking as though she’d come home to find her house flattened by a dust devil.
    Coach dropped their arms and patted Mina on the back. “Congratulations. Don’t look so surprised, Mina.”
    Ruth held out her hand. “Congratulations.” But she didn’t look Mina in the eye.
    Mina thought that the handshake was probably something sportswoman-like that Ruth had learned in soccer.
    When the class B girls ran the fifty meter, Alana came in third to last, jogging in her black Mary Janes. She threw up her hands and laughed.
    Sammy caught up with Mina on the way back to the classroom. “I saw you race. Way to go!” He held out his hand, waiting for the Fellow Friends Handshake.
    Mina shook his hand, slapped his palms twice, then snapped her fingers twice. But she also glanced ahead, to where Ruth walked across the lunch patio. She hoped that Ruth was too far away to hear Sammy’s congratulations. The rainbow had dissolved into the blue sky.
    During silent reading, Mina only pretended to read. Even though the owner of the diamonds was following Francesca, Mina just stared at her book. Mom was right. It was a baby book.
    She put one hand on each knee, bony and round under her jeans. Her legs seemed like the legs of a stranger, legs that had run all on their own.
    But they
weren’t
the legs of a stranger, she thought. They were her legs, and because of her they had run fast. As fast as the fastest girl. A tingle rose along her spine.
    Although Ruth faced away from Mina, Mina could see that she wasn’t turning the pages of her book either.

Ms. Jenner had given everyone a sheet of watercolor paper and a box of watercolors to take home. Mina spread out the paper, paints, and some crayons on the picnic table in the backyard.
    The moon was a slice so thin that she had to sharpen the crayon to a fine point. The white shavings fell like shavings of the moon itself.
    Mina poured watery paint onto the paper and let it run, saturating the fibers.
    “That’s so pretty,” said Paige, sitting down next to Mina on the bench.
    Mina edged her elbow out protectively. “Careful not to touch it while it’s wet.”
    “Mommy says there’s a rabbit on the moon.”
    “That’s just what Chinese people pretend they see,” Mina explained.
    “Just pretend? It’s not really there?”
    Mina laughed. “No rabbit, Paige. It’s craters and moon mountains that
look
like a rabbit.”
    “Oh, wow!” Paige leaned over Mina’s elbow and pointed. “The paint doesn’t stick to the moon you colored with crayon.