Values & Virtues
My mom would kill me if she knew I was this close to the flooding creek, but I was desperate.
I heard footsteps crunching on the gravel path. My heart pounded. I was about to be caught doing the dumbest thing I had ever done. Well, maybe not the dumbest. There was that whole slime-mold experiment last summer. We couldn't use our bathtub for a month.
I made one last grab for my hat.
There was a playful combat everywhere. I didn't have time to look around, but there had to be close to a hundred people around me, yelling, laughing and swinging their pillows.
On the edges of the battle other people watched. THere were grown-ups holding their kids by the hand or loaded down with shopping bags, looking stunned or amused or confused. Some laughed and pointed, and others hurried away like they were scared. There had to be almost as many people watching as there were participating.
One of the pillows burst, and a million white feathers shot into the air like a billowing cloud! The crowd—watching and fighting—erupted into gasps and screams and laughter.
Matt was momentarily stunned, but he bounced up quickly, wiping the trickle of blood from the side of his mouth.
One look at the hard-nosed, sneering Grant Jackson standing above him told Matt no apology was forthcoming. "Just remember, rook," Grant hissed quietly. "I'm the starting point guard on this team."
One of the private-school boys grabs hold of his buddy's arm. "Let's get outta here," he says. "See the fangs on that monster? And the way his ears are sticking up?" I don't like him calling Smokey a monster. If Smokey's baring his fangs, it's because he's on the alert. I head for the cash. I feel like Smokey needs me. Like I understand him in a way no one else does.
Koppel plunked the meat grinder down on the table.
"Tell her what you told me," he said.
Yetta rolled her eyes. "Oy vey, he's talking to a meat grinder."
"Tell her!" shouted Koppel.
The meat grinder was silent.
"Does it know any chicken jokes?" Yetta giggled. "It sings 'My Yiddishe Mama' maybe?"
