“For me?” Mina said. She was so happy, she did look like a princess then.
Big Molly’s Diner was really busy. Mina and I sat at the counter. Mina spread a paper napkin over her lap and tucked another one into her collar.
I liked playing big brother to Mina the way Jimmy used to do.
Behind us a woman was passing out paper party hats, crowns and pirate hats and pointed caps. She had one gold crown left over.
I saw Mina stare at it, then turn around and dunk her French fry in gravy and slip it in her mouth.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” I said, but then I went over and asked the woman if I could buy the crown for my baby sister.
I didn’t have any money. I was hoping the woman would give me the party hat. I mean, what kind of person would sell a kid a paper party hat that would end up in the trash anyway?
“I have extra,” the woman said. “You can have it.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I handed the gold-paper crown to Mina.
Mina nearly swallowed her French fry whole.
She wiped her fingers on her napkin and put the crown on her head.
I sat there feeling my toes stretch to the end of Jimmy’s shoes.
I wanted Mina’s life to be perfect. I never wanted her to grow up needing a gang. Maybe she can become a princess, or at least play a princess in the movies, if she keeps her mind on her goal.
How could Jimmy ever join a gang? Maybe he had too much responsibility helping Mom, but in the end I knew that in his heart he wasn’t a gangbanger. Jimmy liked life too much.
After dinner that evening, I picked up my baseball and glove and Jimmy’s, too. I walked across the street and knocked on Zev’s door.
Zev opened the door.
“Can you come outside?” I asked. “I want to show you how to play baseball.”
I’ve never seen a guy smile as big as Zev did that day.
I did learn how to play chess, and then I taught Lisa. She’s good at it and always beats me.
I’m sure Jimmy’s laughing about that. He’s probably laughing at all the crazy singing my life does.
At least I hope he is.
Copyright
Harper Trophy® is a registered trademark of
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Drive-By
Copyright © 1996 by Lynne Ewing
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 978-0-062-02833-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ewing, Lynne
Drive-by / Lynne Ewing
p. cm.
Summary: Twelve-year-old Tito, while helping to care for his little sister, struggles to find his way during the aftermath of his brother’s death in a gang-related shooting.
[1. Gangs—Fiction. 2. Death—Fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. I I. Title.
PZ7.E965Dr 1996
[Fic]—dc20
95-40643
CIP
AC
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Lynne Ewing, Drive-By
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