sayinâ. . .â
I fiddled with my camera. She could see I was embarrassed, so she changed the subject. She nudged me in the shoulder. âYou always film the Tokers, but you never point that thing at me. I got moves too.â
She posed like a supermodel and I recorded her for a minute, doing my fashion photo talk: âYeah, baby, make love to the lens.â
She fell down on the grass and we busted up laughing. It was definitely a girlfriend moment. We lay on our stomachs on a low hill and observed the boys waiting to pounce.
âHow come weâre the only girls and weâre stuck out here?â I asked.
âDunno,â she shrugged. âMaybe âcause most girls donât like to fight?â
âHow did you get in, then?â I asked.
She frowned. âMy brother. He used to be TKO top dawg. He was close with K. One day, my mom told him that he had to watch me. I was twelve. Neither of us wanted to hang with each other, but he took me along with him. And you know how it is, guys love to show off when a girl is around, âspecially one as fine as me.â She gave me her straightest face. âWhy you never laugh when Iâm joking?â
âSorry.â
I peered through my viewfinder and spotted a couple of the boys peeking from between some trees.
âAnyways,â she continued. âI caught Kâs eye. He liked me and kinda took me under his wing. My bro didnât like that and threatened to whup me if I came back. I didnât know what was up with him, and later I figured it was because he didnât want K hitting on me. But I wasnât about to let my brother tell me what to do! Iâd already seen what they was doing and told him that Iâd be happy to tell momma what he been up to. He let me come back and I been there ever since.â
âYou didnât tell me your brother was here. Which one is he?â
She stewed. âHe left.â
âWell, when is he coming back?â
She shrugged. âI mean, he ainât here no more. He said he outgrew it. To him, it was a stupid thing only kids do.â
I could see she was pissed. âAnd he doesnât mind you being here?â I asked.
âHe ainât around to stop meâoh dang, look!â
There was action. I trained my lens on one of the Tokers. He sprinted out of the trees and was quickly on the heels of a biker with the fancy racing clothes you see around. It was like a nature filmâa cheetah pursuing his prey. The kid caught up to the biker and swung, but hit the dudeâs helmet by accident. The biker freaked and took off, barely escaping the three or four others chasing him. Eventually, they all gave up.
They tried a few more times, failing over and over until finally they just drove some guy into the bushes and attacked him in a frenzy.
It made for a crazy movie. I added some narration from a nature film I downloaded about cheetahs. I did quick cuts and made all the failures dramatic, until the exciting climax when they captured their target.
It was wild.
12
We were on the bus over to Benton Park. The Rec Center had a gym where K and some of the Tokers boxed. It was a rundown brick building left over from another time. Somebody had spray painted a âWâ in front of the sign so it read WRec Center. It was like out of some old movieâeven had a salty old guy in there with a whistleâyour typical hard-fought movie coach whoâd seen a million boxing matches. His face was all knots and full of what my mom called âcharacter.â He had a bunch a guys doing exercises with these big heavy leather balls, throwing them at each other and doing squats and stuff. All the while he was walking back and forth blowing his whistle and talking.
âUse your fists in the ring, not the street!â
âYes, Teacher Man!â they all shouted back like they were in the army.
âBe disciplined in your work and you will be a champion in
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