“All right,” said Ben, “Dave, Matt, and I will hit the Dragon. Anoop, you go to the other end of the courts and watch for the Land Rover, and Eben, you go behind that hedge and watch for Snake Eyes the other way. Can you guys whistle?”

Anoop nodded.

“I want to tag it, though,” said Eben.

“Fine. Dave, do you mind being lookout for Eben?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, cool. Everyone ready?”

They nodded.

Just as they were all leaning forward to start jogging out, Eben said, “Should we wait for Snake Eyes to pass once? Then we’ll know he won’t be back for a while.”

“But we have no idea how long that could be,” said Ben, even though it wasn’t a bad idea. “Dave, Anoop, get set up.” The two of them spread out.

“Where do we go if Snake Eyes comes?” asked Matt.

“The other direction,” said Eben. “Ready?” They went.

*  *  *

Ben crouched with one hand on the cold rusty side of the furnace. He took the cap off the white and it became immediately clear what he needed to paint. It arrived in him joyfully and entirely on its own. “Decision-Making” had nothing to say about that moment of choicelessness. Ben saw Price’s smiling eyes, and the ball bearing clacked in the can horrendously loud. Ben started making letters before he could stop himself. He outlined several large amoeba shapes on the side facing the road. His fingers started hurting in the cold and he stopped to whack them against his thigh. He filled in the shapes with back-and-forth strokes. The paint stayed wet in the cold and pulled together into rivulets down the surface.

“THE COW”

SJS SQUASH

SUCKS

Ben took two steps back, off the platform, then crouched down and sprayed a cross through the plaque on the stone block. He squeezed his jaw shut with the savor of it.

He heard Matt spraying the other side. He looked for Anoop. They made eye contact across the road—everything okay—and he looked for Dave but couldn’t see him.

“Let’s go,” Ben said hoarsely. He suddenly had the feeling that Eben had sprayed swastikas on the ends of the Dragon, but when he checked he just saw SQUASH IS FOR THE WEAK.

“Go,” Ben said to Matt and Eben, and they ran ahead of him back to the hiding place.

Ben’s index finger was white. He tried to wipe the paint off on the leaves, but white remained down in the grooves of his fingerprints. He’d need paint thinner if he wanted it out tonight, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to find paint thinner. He wanted to sand the skin itself off, or peel it off with a razor blade. Anoop came back, and finally so did Dave.

Anoop still looked terrified.

“‘The Cow,’ ” said Eben, laughing. “‘The Cow,’ man, that was nice.”

“Did you see the truck?” Ben asked Anoop.