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because her crying started again.
    When Mom stopped crying, the house was quiet for a long time.
    I was drifting off to sleep when I heard footsteps in the hallway.
    Someone stood in my doorway.
    “Tito.”
    I nearly fell out of bed.
    “Mina, why are you up?” I said.
    “I hear noises in the backyard,” Mina said. “Go see if Spider’s back.”
    “You stay here. I don’t want you catching a cold on top of everything else.”
    I tucked her into my bed, pulled on my jeans, and carried Jimmy’s sneakers downstairs, then put them on.
    The moon colored the backyard an odd icy gray. Shadows looked like huge monsters crouching against the garage and house. It felt too silentoutside, as if everyone had disappeared and I was alone in the world.
    I started across the lawn to the doghouse when I heard footsteps coming across the wet grass behind me.

14
    I turned.
    Gus stood behind me holding a can of spray paint. He smiled.
    I was still angry with him about the gun.
    I glanced at Mrs. Washington’s house, ready to fight if I saw any graffiti on the weathered stucco.
    “Relax, man,” Gus said, like he knew what I was thinking. “I came over to see if you wanted to join our tagging party.”
    “I already told you I’m not joining any gang.”
    Only a summer back we’d camped out in the backyard in a stupid tent we made with blankets. Now he was going one way and I was going another, and it was like we both knew it but didn’t want to say it, so we just stood there in the backyard, knowing this was it.
    “I want you to take your gun back, Gus,” I said finally. “Wait here while I go get it.”
    “How ’bout just hanging out with me?” Gus said. “Then afterward I’ll take the gun back.”
    I thought for a second. “If you don’t do any tagging,” I said.
    He nodded.
    I did like to spend time with Gus. There was a time when I thought we’d be best friends for life.
    “I’ll buy you a hamburger,” Gus said.
    “You know a place open now?”
    “Big Molly’s Diner,” Gus said. “Come on.”
    “Are you sure it’s open?” I asked.
    “Would you stop worrying so much?” Gus said. “If it’s closed, we’ll go someplace else.”
    He started running down the alley. I tied Jimmy’s shoes tighter and ran after him.
    Our footsteps echoed down the empty streets.
    Every time I got close enough to run with him, he’d sprint ahead of me.
    Finally he turned into the parking lot of Big Molly’s Diner.
    I caught up to him. The diner was dark.
    Gus looked at me, punched at my hand, and whispered, “Sorry.”
    I turned.
    There was Spider, tied to the bumper of the blue Oldsmobile.
    Lamar and Ice Breaker Joe leaned against the car hood.
    I still didn’t recognize the guy sitting in the driver’s seat, but it hit me now who the other guy had been, the one with the baseball cap and bandanna over his face like a bandit.
    I’ve never hated anyone as much as I hated Gus right then.
    Ice Breaker Joe untied Spider.
    “We found your doggie,” Lamar said.
    Spider ran to me. He jumped up, his stick legs poking me, and licked my face. Then he stopped and cringed next to my feet, whining.
    I guess he sensed my fear.

15
    “ J ust chill,” Lamar said. “Jimmy was our friend.”
    “He wasn’t a gangbanger,” I said.
    They laughed, even Gus.
    “Jimmy was my ace man,” Lamar said. “He didn’t deserve what happened to him. Now people out looking for you. You need us to protect you so they won’t mess with you. You don’t want what happened to Jimmy to happen to you.”
    “I can handle my own,” I said.
    “Not against another gang,” Lamar said. “You need the protection of your own family.”
    “I respect you,” I said. Jimmy told me all gang-banging was about getting respect. I hoped I was showing enough to Lamar. “But I have to support my mother and sister.”
    They laughed again.
    “How do you think Jimmy was supporting you all?” Lamar said. “Running drugs for me. That’s how he did it. You join