CHAPTER NINETEEN

JAMES TROTTED BACK ACROSS THE STREET and rejoined his friends. Dallas and Felix stared at him, as if expecting him to waver and go home.

“What did your mom want?” asked Dallas.

James shrugged. “Be careful. Don’t go too far.”

“There’s lots of crazies out there,” finished Felix.

James looked at him and smirked.

Dallas stepped away from the car. “We’re going to wait till around noon before we sneak down there,” he announced. “That way they’ll probably be inside eating lunch.”

“I think we should get there early and stake the place out,” said James. “Who knows if they’ll be eating lunch or not? If they’re not, we’ll be screwed again.”

“I like that idea,” Dallas said.

“Let’s go to the deli. Load up on drinks and snacks, for the stakeout,” offered Felix, as if any delay might derail Dallas’s plan. They all agreed, and headed for the trails behind Dallas’s house, intending to take their usual path to Mayflower Avenue, and cut through Zambrini’s Brick and Masonry Yard.

As they rounded a bend in the footpath, Dallas glanced up into the trees and fixed his eyes on the spot where he wanted to build his fort. Immediately, he began to have daydreams about the nights they’d all spend up there, overlooking his backyard. Late nights under the full moon. There would be no rules. That would be the attraction. And whoever wanted to be in their club could be in it. The kids from the estates. Even Jason Brock. They would only have to swear their loyalty and they’d be members.

As they walked, Dallas’s eyes wandered up to the tops of the trees, and up farther to the bright clear sky, with its golden throb of light creeping toward noon. After scrambling across Mayflower Avenue, they ducked into the back lot of Zambrini’s and spied a gray corner of Nino’s roof rising over the treetops just a football field away.