At the Crossroads Read Online Free PDF

is Franky’s room. I don’t go in your room, so you stay out of his. Let’s go, Franky.”
    Franky looked at the mess of clothes that his cousin had thrown everywhere and shook his head.
    He could toss the room upside down and he wouldn’t find the other three hundred dollars, because it was stashed in the handle of his brush, which he just slid into his back pocket.
    “Rico, man,” Franky said. “That’s messed up what you did to my room and what you accused me of. You know I’m not a thief. If it was your money, I would’ve given it to you, but I gave it to Nigel to help pay the rent.”
    “Yeah,” Rico said, frowning his chubby face up. “Well, if you telling the truth, then I’m sorry, but if you lying, I’ll find out and I’ma whip that butt. Have fun in school.”
    “If I find out you been in this room,” Nigel said, “there’s gonna be some serious consequences for you, and you won’t have to worry about whipping no butt, ya heard?”
    Rico nodded. He couldn’t go against his big brother and win. He gave Franky the evil eye and walked to his room.
    “I gave you everything I had,” Franky said to Nigel with a straight face. He had plans for the other money. He wouldn’t be hungry again. That other three hundred dollars was for when his ribs threatened to kiss his back, and although Nigel always made a way, he was getting tired of living like that. The three hundred dollars was his insurance of always having a meal.
    “I believe you. And even if you didn’t, so what. Let’s get you to school.”

5
    F avorite civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were shaking hands. The one and only time they ever met was forever bronzed and standing tall out in front of the school named to honor them. Malcolm Martin High School was huge, and once Franky was inside, he was tempted to turn around. The place was so chaotic that for some strange reason it reminded him of a jail more than a school.
    Before Franky and Mrs. Bertha could enter the building, they had to walk through a metal detector that was manned by two buff guys wearing tight-fitting uniforms complete with full pistol belts. Franky looked down at the belt of one of the guards and saw two sets of handcuffs, two cans of pepper spray, and one big black pistol. He looked past the metal detector and saw two more uniformed officers walking with two large German shepherds who were sniffing lockers and students as they walked by.
    What in the world have I gotten myself into? Franky wondered.
    Then there was another shocker. Everywhere he turned, he saw black faces, and they were loud and wild and unruly. Try as he might, he couldn’t find one white face in the crowd of what seemed like a million and one kids running around screaming and yelling. He even saw two kids fighting as people walked by as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Maybe this was ordinary, he thought. This was truly an all-black school. The teachers were black, the kids were black, the janitors were black, the security guards were black, and even the drug-sniffing dogs were black.
    At every school Franky had ever attended since he was a mere six months old, he had always been in the minority, and he’d never even stepped foot in a public school. He had gotten so accustomed to being the one of two or three blacks in school that Malcolm Martin High School was a complete culture shock. Even though he grew up in New Orleans, he had never really been a part of black New Orleans.
    You from New Orleans. We from Nawlins, Rico used to tease.
    Finally, he knew what he meant. This new school environment was going to take some getting used to. But he was here now, and he might as well get started. Nigel had asked Mrs. Bertha if she’d register Franky into the school. She was perfect for the job. She was old and wasn’t really in the right frame of mind to answer too many probing questions. They had their story down, which wasn’t that far off from the truth. Franky had come up