The Girl Who Owned a City Read Free Page B

some, Todd,” she said. He was a good kid.
    But he turned back into a sassy little brother and threw a tantrum when he learned that Lisa was going on a trip without him. “Why not?” he asked, finally, when he realized that she wasn’t changing her mind.
    â€œBecause of the gangs I’ve been hearing at night. They are starting to steal from other families like us. Soon they’ll be out in the daytime, and we have to be careful. Don’t you want to be the guard of our house?”
    â€œI guess so,” he answered. He had a familiar look of worry. “How long will you be gone?”
    â€œI should be back by three at the latest. Did you wind your watch?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œRemember,” she said, mounting her bike, “stay in the house, keep the doors locked, and if anyone should try to break in, hide in the crawl space under the stairs. Keep the gun with you all the time.” She added, “Your breakfast is on the table.”
    She rode off, with the wagon clattering along behind her. On Riford Street, she saw a few faces peek from the door of a boarded-up house. She pedaled as slowly as possible, but the metal wagon still banged against the pavement, making too much noise.
    A girl from Beth Bush’s house recognized her and began running to meet her. For some reason, she stopped abruptly after two or three paces and then ran back inside. Lisa saw this from the corner of her eye and wondered what had stopped the girl.
    Which one of my friends would be living at the Bush’s house? she wondered. It looked vaguely like Becky Cliff, but it was hard to be sure. Whoever it was had not been too lucky. Her face was pale and smudged with dirt. Her hair and clothes looked neglected.
    Those kids are probably wondering what I’m up to, thought Lisa. They can see that I’m off to find supplies, but they can’t guess why I’m headed
away
from all the houses and stores. I hope I’m the first to think of this. I’ll be mad if I pedal all the way out to these farms just to find them empty like everything else.
    Lisa’s leg muscles were beginning to ache, but her mind was so busy with thoughts of farms and fields that she didn’t notice the pain. There just has to be lots of food there, she thought. After all, that’s where food comes from.
    At North Avenue, she decided to rest her legs. After pulling the bike into a deserted gas station, she sat for a while in the weak winter sun, using a gas pump for a backrest. She ate the candy bar, but it made her thirsty. A water faucet was fixed to the outside wall of the station. Perhaps there was still enough pressure in the tank to force out a little trickle of water.
    To her surprise, the water came rushing out. After taking a long drink, she returned to her seat by the pump.
    As she sat and stared at the big, empty road, Lisa became aware of its stillness. There was not one single car, not a sign of life anywhere.
    She had made all her other visits to this intersection in the family car. Before leaving the station, they always had to wait patiently for a break in the long stream of cars. Now there was no traffic at all. The road seemed huge and strange without it.
    Now’s my chance to break a rule without being punished, she thought. There was no one around to tell her to look both ways before crossing the street.
    She pedaled hard, held her eyes straight ahead, and crossed the intersection while looking straight ahead. She laughed out loud, and then shouted, “Many rules have become useless!” But no one heard.
    Fifteen minutes later, Lisa was pedaling past farms and fields. She chose the farm that looked most inviting. It had large, freshly painted buildings and a long white fence that ran for a hundred yards or so before disappearing into a thick forest. She wheeled past the fence and parked her bike by the largest barn.
    What she saw inside the barn made her feel sick. The cows had been