“Yeah, Africa.” For them, Africa meant the other side of town.

I calculated the distance to my home. It was a seven-house dash, but they’d never let me escape with a straight shot. A creek divided our neighborhood addition in two and ran through my backyard. A thick stand of trees separated the properties. Great for hiding, but if I got caught back there, no one could see them beat the snot out of me. Fueled by fear, I gambled that I could cut through the edge of the trees and jump the narrow part of the creek to make it to my back porch before they could reach me.

As Moms often says, I suffer from “big mouth, small behind syndrome.” Luckily for me, my speed made up for the checks my mouth couldn’t cash.

“Hey, Jeff,” I finally said, “is your brother Humphrey back yet?”

“What brother?”

“Oh, I saw your mother on the corner last night yelling ‘hump free.’”

Jeff lunged, but I slammed my books into Tim and took off. I jumped over the white wooden fence that surrounded the nearest house and tore through the yard. Panic already shot me off my plan. Still, they were going to have to work for this butt whupping. I wished I had an older brother, someone to look out for me.

While Tim gained on me, Jeff struggled with the fence. The yard was fairly small, and bushes taller than me lined it. An oak tree grew near the bushes, a path I’d mapped during a previous chase. I scampered up the tree without missing a step, climbed past the bushes, and leaped. Landing hard, I tucked into a roll. Moms was going to be upset when she saw the state of my clothes.

I ran behind the garage of the next house to escape the stares of my good-for-nothing classmates. A Doberman strained against its leash when I darted by. A church faced the street that bordered our neighborhood. I’d have to double back to make it to my house. I would be better off waiting them out.

I climbed down the stone-lined basement steps of the church and hid. I waited for the boys to pass noisily by. If they were to peer over the edge of the steps, I was cornered. After a few minutes, I held my breath, and peeked above the concrete wall of the steps. The boys headed down the road. I jogged back down my street. Some of the straggling kids shouted as I passed. Tim and Jeff turned only to see me standing on my front porch. Home.

Later that day, the doorbell rang. Three times. I hated it when people pushed the button more than once as if it were there just for show. When I yanked the door open, this little kid with his shirt only half-tucked in reached into his backpack to hand me my forgotten books.

“You dropped these.” Nehemiah picked at his budding Afro.

“Thanks.” I left the door open while I wandered into the family room. The kid couldn’t have been too bad. He did bring my books for me, so I figured I owed him. Plus he looked like a stiff breeze could carry him off. Closing the door behind him, he followed me. I plopped down in front of our old television set. It was almost time for Yu-Gi-Oh! “You want to stick around? My mom just popped out to the store, but she’ll be back. She’ll make us some sandwiches.”