CHAPTER 24
Devon
The sun was high and bright as Devon and CJ slammed open the school doors and headed off, down the steps and out to the bike rack.
“See ya tomorrow,” Devon said as they passed Shenise, Gabby, and Mariana, where they gathered in a tight group of girls.
Gabby didn’t have the braids today, he noticed, and she’d pulled her long brown hair into a high ponytail.
It looked cute, he thought, and too late realized she’d noticed him staring.
He shrugged and waved at the group. Shenise wiggled her fingers back.
“See ya, guys,” Shenise said.
He and CJ unlocked their bikes and pedaled toward Baker Street.
There was no sign of Marquis, Johnny, or Big Ty, and Devon felt a surge of relief.
Marquis had been giving him extra bad looks lately, like he was looking for trouble or something.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen them for a few days, now.
Maybe they’d found something else to do in the afternoons besides messing with them.
“Wanna come over to my house?” CJ asked as they made a right and then a left, heading toward home. “We can play my X-Box. Ma’s working late, and she already said she won’t mind.”
Devon thought a moment. Memaw had been good this morning, had been sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal when he’d left for camp, almost like the old days.
She had taken to wearing her faded blue bathrobe around the house all the time now instead of the housedresses she normally favored, said she had a chill, though how anyone could have a chill in the summertime was beyond him.
She looked extra old these days, and her hair wasn’t right, like she didn’t really bother with it, but she was up, and that’s what mattered.
She was up and around and not laying all day in the bed like before. She was talking better, too.
“Yeah, I’ll come for a little while. Gotta help Memaw, but maybe I can come for an hour or so.”
“Awesome!” CJ grinned, and for a second Devon felt like a normal kid. “My cousin gave me Lego Jurassic World cause he got tired of it. It’s amazing.”
Devon bit back a smile as they pedaled and CJ went on and on about the game and how you could experiment with DNA and create your own dinosaurs, even.
CJ was obsessed with dinosaurs, had gone around for years saying he wanted to be a paleontologist while the rest of the kids were all into firefighters or Army superheroes or whatever.
They rounded the corner, still smiling as CJ went on and on about the game, until Devon noticed CJ had suddenly grown quiet and stopped talking all together.
There, ahead, were Marquis, Johnny Vasquez, and Big Ty. They were standing in the middle of the street, arms crossed and shoulder-to-shoulder, staring them down. Marquis’s basketball rested at his feet. Oh, man. They were waiting. Just for them.
Almost in unison, CJ and Devon stopped pedaling, gears whirring as they coasted way, way down.
“Let’s go,” Devon muttered, already circling back. They could always go the long way, back down Baker toward Washington and over, cut through the trailer park and Old Mr. Sellers’s backyard.
But to his surprise, CJ had stopped his bike smack in the center of the street. And now he was getting off it, setting the bike down. Standing up straight.
“CJ, what are you doing?” Devon asked in a low voice.
“I’m tired of this, Dev.” As he watched, CJ began to walk toward the trio. “Sick and tired.”
Marquis smirked as CJ approached. “Aw, look. Buddy boy wants to play. Miss all our fun from last summer?”
Johnny Vasquez cracked his knuckles, and Big Ty narrowed his eyes and stood, frozen, as CJ walked closer.
Devon looked around. There was no one in sight, no one within earshot.
The houses looked closed up and empty, everyone either at work or inside, resting.
From somewhere far off a dog barked, one of those snarling, vicious-sounding dogs, and Devon’s heart began to thud.
What is he doing? Is he trying to get himself killed?
“I’m not scared of you anymore,” CJ called out to them, lifting his chin. “I’m tired of running and tired of hiding. So let’s get it over with. You wanna beat me up? Have your fun?”
He’s gone crazy. Devon swallowed, trying to get the nerve to say something, figure out the words to stop all this, or at least hit pause. He couldn’t leave CJ there alone to fend for himself, couldn’t go for help and return fast enough, but if he stuck around, they’d jump him, too.
“Actually,” Johnny Vasquez said, hitching his pants and tucking his bandanna into his back pocket, “that sounds like the right idea to me.”
Johnny took a step back, like he was getting into some karate position or something, but Marquis had stopped smirking and was staring at CJ like CJ was from another planet.
“What are you doing?” Marquis demanded, eyes wide.
CJ said nothing, just got within three or four feet of them and stopped. For the first time, Devon realized CJ had shot up a few inches. Instead of flab, he had muscles.
“Dude, I said what do you think you’re doing?” Marquis sounded both mad as all get-out and completely confused. “You do know these guys’ll turn you into a human pretzel.”
CJ shook his head, stared at Big Ty. “No. I don’t think so.”
Big Ty stared back for a long, long moment. Devon held his breath.
And then, as Devon stared, Big Ty socked Vasquez hard in the bicep.
“Oww.” It was Vasquez’s turn to stare.
“Leave him alone,” Big Ty said in a deep voice. “We got better things to do. I’m hungry.”
Devon watched as Big Ty turned on his heel and slowly walked off, headed in the direction of the corner store. Marquis shot CJ a baffled look and followed, and then Vasquez, with one last knuckle-crack, finally did the same.
After they were halfway down the street, Devon wheeled over to CJ.
“What in the world.”
But CJ just smiled, like he didn’t have a worry in the world.
“Have you been working out or something?” Devon asked, staring at his friend.
CJ grinned, shrugged like he was embarrassed. “Ma got an evening shift cleaning the high school, and they have a weight room for the football players.”
“You’ve been lifting weights?”
“Uh, yeah.” CJ’s smile was even wider now. “Not only that, but my Ma’s new boss happens to be in charge of the football program, and I heard that Big Ty might be up for some scholarship—if he can keep his nose clean and play for them.”
Devon raised his eyebrows. “That’s some gamble.”
CJ gave him a sideways smile. “I ran into him once or twice over at the gym, lifting. Turns out we lift about the same range. Big Ty isn’t such a big deal.”
Devon covered his mouth, his shoulders shaking as they started to laugh.
“Man, CJ, you must have nerves of steel.”
“Well, I also noticed that.”
CJ pointed, and Devon looked over to see a plain black car parked in the lot next to a house two doors down. He peered closer, saw what looked to be two undercover officers inside.
“You’re good.”
CJ laughed as they got on their bikes, pedaled off down the street toward his house.
“You know what? I sure am.”
◆◆◆
When Devon got home an hour later, he was surprised to see Memaw sitting in the reclining chair in front of the TV set.
She still had her blue robe on, but a glass of ice water with a straw was sitting on the little table beside her, and she had her feet up and was doing a crossword puzzle.
It was almost like that whole dark spell, when she’d been sick and T and his friends were there and everything had turned upside down, had never even happened at all.
He grinned at her, gave her a peck as he set his backpack down. “Hey, Memaw.”
She smiled back at him over her reading glasses.
“How’s my sweet boy?”
“You know what, Memaw? Awesome!” And right then and there he plopped on the edge of the sofa and filled her in on CJ and what had happened that afternoon, which he still wasn’t one hundred percent certain had actually even occurred, and the latest at camp, and the new Voices from James Watkins series, and even Miss Becca herself.
“You’d love her, Memaw.”
Memaw’s eyes were bright as she listened. “Well, bring her ’round. I hope to meet this Miss Becca of yours.”
“I sure will.”
Memaw reached over, squeezed his hand. “I don’t tell you enough how good you do my heart,” she said softly. “After your Mama passed on, I was so worried you’d lose your light, sweet boy. Oh, how I worried.”
Devon squeezed her hand back, saw moisture fill her eyes and threaten to spill.
“Aw, Memaw, you don’t have to worry about me.”
“Sugar, I do anyway.” She sniffled, felt around in her bathrobe pocket for a tissue, which she used to blow her nose. “That light of yours, it reminds me so much of your Mama’s. You have such a beautiful, kind spirit in you. The spirit of the Lord, I like to say.”
He swallowed, felt his throat start to burn, but in a good way.
“I love you, Memaw.”
“I love you, too, child.”
They sat that way a few moments, listening to the birds outside, listening to a delivery truck roar by, and then he glanced up, realized it was nearly five thirty and time to start supper.
Inspiration struck.
“Memaw, how do you feel about a good home-cooked meal tonight?” He closed his eyes and smacked his lips. “I’m talking mashed potatoes, green beans, the works. I can fry up some hamburger steaks, throw in a bit of onion, too!”
She laughed with him, the deep belly laugh he hadn’t heard in ages, didn’t realize how much he’d missed till he heard it again.
“Oh, sweet boy, that sounds like heaven to me.”
He got to work, thawed out the meat from the icebox, found a can of green beans and had peeled all the potatoes, and was slicing onions when he noticed he was actually humming to himself, humming like Mama used to hum, that old hymn “Marching to Zion,” and tapping the knife along with the beat.
He giggled at himself then, realized he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy.
He was so caught in the melody and the tapping that he almost didn’t hear it at first, the low thumping bass that grew steadily louder and louder outside.
But then he heard it, and the sound made him freeze dead in his tracks. The hair on the back of his neck prickled.
Everything was over. Everything, every little thing that had made him feel lighter than air moments before, like he was walking on clouds and had hope in the world again, was suddenly and completely gone.
Done.
Finished.
He heard the unmistakable motor, the slam of the car door, the chirp of the alarm.
Uncle T was back.