I jumped to my feet and spun around. There were three guys—older, high-school aged—standing there. Judging from their expressions, they were as surprised that we were there as we were by their sudden appearance.
“What are you doing?” I demanded before I thought through what I was saying.
There was a slight delay before the first one spoke. “What do you think we’re doing?” he snapped.
“You could have hit one of the cats!”
“That was the idea!” snarled the biggest of the three boys.
The other two boys were holding rocks, but he wasn’t. That meant he was the one who had tossed the brick.
“You could have hurt them, or even killed one,” I said.
“I didn’t, but maybe our next shot will be better,” he said.
Suddenly one of the other boys pulled back his arm and threw a rock. I ducked, but it soared over our heads, narrowly missed a cat and hit the trunk of a car with a thud.
“Stop it!” I screamed. “You shouldn’t be throwing rocks at the cats!”
“Who should we be throwing rocks at?” the big kid asked, but it wasn’t really a question. It was a threat.
“Leave the cats alone,” I said, my voice cracking over the last word.
The three of them laughed. Not the response I was hoping for.
“Maybe we should be throwing the rocks at something that’s easier to hit,” the big guy said.
I looked around for someone to help us, but we were alone.
“Come on,” Simon hissed. “Let’s get out of here.”
I ignored him. “Just leave the cats alone,” I said again. It was more a plea than an order.
“What’s it to you?” the big guy asked. Obviously he was their leader and spokesperson.
“They didn’t do anything to you. They’re just cats,” I said.
“Shut up,” Simon said out of the side of his mouth.
“Are you two going to stop us?” the big guy asked.
“Us?” Simon asked, shuffling forward. “We’re just passing through. I don’t even like cats.”
I stepped forward. “I do!” I exclaimed. “And you should just leave them alone.”
They started laughing again. At least I was amusing them.
“So, Catboy, what are you going to do if we don’t leave them alone?” asked the big guy.
“Nothing,” Simon said. “We’re going to do nothing except leave.”
“I wasn’t talking to you!” he snapped. “I was talking to Catboy.” He pointed at me.
I felt my whole body flush. What was I going to do? We were outnumbered and outsized. It wasn’t as if anybody was here to take control. There were no teachers, parents, refs or adults of any kind. If they wanted to beat the heck out of us or hit us with rocks, there was nobody here to stop them.
“What’s wrong, Catboy? Cat got your tongue?” the big guy asked, and they all burst out laughing.
I had to admit, that was clever. Maybe if it wasn’t meant as an insult and I wasn’t so scared, I would have found it funny.
Then they did something that wasn’t funny at all. Two of them reached down and picked up more rocks.
“It’s cruel to pick on helpless animals,” I said.
“You convinced us,” the big guy said.
I was shocked. Were they going to stop?
“We won’t throw anything at the cats…just stupid kids,” said the big guy.
I started to laugh, unexpectedly. Judging from their expressions and the look Simon gave me, everyone was confused by my laughter. I had to admit, I was confused as well. But now I was going to confuse them even more. I bent down and grabbed two rocks.
“Are you crazy?” Simon said.
“Not crazy. You need to pick up some rocks.”
He didn’t move.
“Now!” I ordered.
He bent down and picked up a rock.
The three of them stared at us. At least we had stunned them into silence for a few seconds. I tried to decide if it was better to fire the first rock or wait. Yes, it was better to wait.
“If we run, I think we can get back to the hole in the fence,” Simon whispered. “We can still get away.”
“If we run, they’ll chase us or throw the rocks. Just stay here. Don’t move. Don’t talk.”
“Good idea. If we don’t move, maybe they’ll forget we’re here and leave,” he whispered. “Maybe if we close our eyes, they won’t be able to see us.”
Great. Sarcasm—just what I needed. They weren’t leaving, but at least nobody was throwing rocks. I glanced over my shoulder, hoping the cats had left. They were still there. In fact, more cats were there. I guess even cats like a good show.
“On my count, we all throw our rocks,” the big guy said.
I tightened my grip on the rock in my right hand. It was a good size, a good weight. I could try to make it count.
“And we all throw at Catboy,” the big guy said.
I was surprised to see Simon take a small step sideways, away from me, opening up a little space between us.
“You, Asian kid, you can leave if you want,” the big guy yelled. “We only want Catboy!”
I looked at Simon. He wasn’t looking at me. Was he going to take this chance to get away?
“Hurry up,” the guy yelled. “Get out of here. Hop on your rickshaw and run away!”
Finally Simon moved. He bent down and grabbed another rock.
“First off, I’m Canadian, and second, they don’t have rickshaws in Korea,” Simon said. “What are you, some kind of idiot?”
I could almost see the guy’s nostrils flair in anger. “You two aim at Catboy. The Korean kid is mine. And he’s going to need a rickshaw to take him to the hospital. Throw on the count of three.”
The other two boys nodded in agreement.
“One,” he said.
“We throw on two,” Simon said.
“Two!”
I pulled my arm back to throw, and all three of them turned and ran away, disappearing behind a pile of cars.
My mouth dropped open in shock, and I started to laugh. Simon laughed too.
“What just happened?” I asked.
“They were probably afraid because I am Korean. They might have thought I would use tae kwon do on them.”
“Tae kwon what?”
“That’s Korean karate,” he said.
“You know tae kwon do?”
“No, but they don’t know that. They see an Asian kid, and they think maybe he knows stuff like that.”
I shook my head. “It has to be something else.”
“What else would scare them?” Simon asked.
“Maybe they were afraid of me,” a deep voice said.
I turned around. Standing right behind us, towering over us, was a security guard!