The chatter among the boys was typical, but Adam didn’t join in as much as he usually does. Kyle tried coaxing Adam to speak by asking him what he did last night besides homework, and he simply replied,
“Nothing much.”
Kyle found that odd. It was rare for Adam not to brag about his television shows or on how hard homework was. Kyle said, “Man, you look tired. Did you stay up late last night?”
“Nah, I went to bed at the usual time, I think. I do feel tired and I don’t know why.”
“You’re going to be worthless in school today. I bet you’ll fall asleep in one of your classes.”
“Oh-no. I’m not going to fall asleep. That’ll just make things worse, and I’ll be more tired.”
“I don’t know, man. You look like you’re not gonna make it, right Vance?”
“Yep. You have huge bags under your eyes. They look like luggage.” Vance said as he giggled.
“Okay, I get it! I look tired. Let’s move on,” Adam answered sounding a little annoyed.
“Wow, and you’re cranky too,” Kyle added making Vance giggle even more, and that infectious giggle spread to Adam.
They turned the corner and started down Catherine Avenue, in the direction of the shops and the cemetery. They continued with their banter until Vance said,
“I wonder what’s happening up there?”
“I don’t see anything,” Kyle said.
“Look at the cars. Everybody’s hitting their brakes. Look at all the brake lights.”
“So? What’s so strange about that?” Adam asked.
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t happen all the time. It looks like they are checking something out up there.”
Kyle and Adam quietly agreed and curbed their conversation as they walked closer to the traffic congestion. Adam thought he spotted a few police cars in the mix and some yellow tape, but he didn’t say anything until he could get a closer look. They were almost directly across the street now and, indeed, yellow tape was stretched across a small parking lot in between two shops. He estimated there were four or five police cars in the area and most of them were milling around within the confines of the tape. He watched drivers craning their necks trying to get a look at what was happening, adding to the traffic bottleneck.
“I wonder what happened over there?” Vance asked.
“I don’t know, but there are a lot of cops over there looking around,” Adam replied as he pointed.
“Whatever it was, it must be big. Look at all those police cars, and check this out. None of them have their lights on. Why is that?” Kyle asked.
“I dunno,” Adam said.
“I bet we can find somebody at school that will know,” Vance said.
They continued on their way to school, passing by the cemetery. Adam had made it a habit of peering into the cemetery grounds each time he passed by.