BooksBarbecue
Back Last Summer on State Street
Chapters (43)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Prologue
  5. OneThe Square
  6. TwoIn War
  7. ThreeLease Compliant
  8. FourTonya from the Ten
  9. FiveSummer School
  10. SixSweeps
  11. SevenMakeovers
  12. EightBombs Bursting in Air
  13. NineProject Kids
  14. TenName-Calling
  15. ElevenCowboy Camp
  16. Twelve1502
  17. ThirteenThe Elevator
  18. Fourteen301
  19. Fifteen304
  20. SixteenSanctuary
  21. SeventeenPlans
  22. EighteenSalvation
  23. NineteenThe Wild
  24. TwentyLivestock
  25. Twenty-OneLast Tag
  26. Twenty-TwoThe Vanishing
  27. Twenty-ThreeAway
  28. Twenty-FourSheeping
  29. Twenty-FiveProject Mentality
  30. Twenty-SixLetter to Meechie
  31. Twenty-SevenA Reunion
  32. Twenty-EightRelocating
  33. Twenty-NineThe Whole Story
  34. ThirtyThe Happiest Place
  35. Thirty-OneEd’s House
  36. Thirty-TwoWhat Mamas Do
  37. Thirty-ThreeThe Living & the Dead
  38. Thirty-FourHaunted
  39. Thirty-FiveSnapshots
  40. Thirty-SixInvitations
  41. Acknowledgments
  42. About the Author
  43. About the Publisher

We went home, and Mama, wore out from crying or thinking or sharing too much, fell asleep right away. Even though the streetlights had popped on hours ago, and even though everyone knew that life in the projects got crazier at night, I took Mama’s keys and went out there, into The Wild, this place that had taken my brother and friends. I didn’t really have a plan and tried to pretend like it was any other time when Stacia and I went down to the candy truck. We’d get a few glances, but no one really messed with us. This was different; it was dark, and I was alone, walking straight through the playground. I ran down the stairs and weaved through groups of talking people. Some of them stopped for a second when I walked by or their heads did a double take. That made me nervous.

By the time I made it to the playground, I couldn’t pretend this wasn’t a bad idea. The playground at night resembled a set from a horror film, especially with 4946 all chewed up, that tape making it look like a crime scene. You could still make out what was left of the sliding board, but the chains that were supposed to hold the swings got ripped out of the poles. They were probably being used to beat people.

Then I saw my brother a distance away. I wanted to run over to him and get a much-needed hug and some encouraging words, but that Meechie wasn’t available anymore. He didn’t even notice me; he was laughing and talking to some girl, enjoying himself at the summer camp for gangbangers. Where a dude could be a dude, no mothers nagging or sisters questioning the stupid things you do, just cops, always the police showing up. My brother had signed up for an ongoing game of cops and robbers. He’d been out there for a few weeks now, but it looked like he’d really settled into his new life in the streets. Every time I saw him outside like this, it seemed to add a new crack in my heart.

At that moment, the robbers were at peace, hanging with their friends and their girls. I walked straight ahead, but I was getting closer to what was left of 4946, and wasn’t nothing normal about that, so I curved slightly to the left and headed down the fire lane.