Sammie\u2019s Stand was a cobbled-together lean-to with faded paint that sat at the far end of the grounds shared by the Fillmore Middle School and Junior High. The stand straddled the property line between the school playground and the adjacent city park. That put it in a legal gray zone \u2014 both the teachers and park officials figured it was the others\u2019 problem. All that confusion made it a nice place to go if you didn\u2019t want an adult breathing down your neck.<\/p>\n
I bellied up to the stand and rapped my knuckles twice on the wood countertop, just like I did every weekday about that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe usual,\u201d I said. A moment later Sammie appeared with a Dixie cup full of lemonade and a single lemon wedge.<\/p>\n
I reached into my pocket, pretending to hunt for a quarter. Sammie waved it off.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the house, Sera\u201d he said, and gave me a grin.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re aces, Sammie.\u201d Sammie was a sixth grader; a year older than me, but he let me drink for free in exchange for me not coming down on his operation.<\/p>\n
I threw back the lemonade in a single sugary shot, then sucked on the wedge. The sour chasing the sweet made my jaw ache, especially where I\u2019d recently lost a baby tooth. I shook my head, sending my pigtails whipping back and forth.<\/p>\n
I stepped away from the lemonade stand and adjusted my neon-yellow vest. I wanted another round, but I was still on the clock. It was almost the end of the school day, and pretty soon there\u2019d be kids who had to cross the street. I was about to head for the crosswalk when a voice stopped me cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, well. Whatta we got here?\u201d<\/p>\n
I knew that whiney, just-beginning-to-crack voice. I turned around slowly, hoping I\u2019d be wrong. But there he was: Kevin Breyers, accompanied by his oversized flunkie, Matt Stahl. They both wore dopey smiles and the orange sashes that marked them as hall monitors.<\/p>\n
I hate hall monitors.<\/p>\n
I squared my shoulders and hitched my belt.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re outta your jurisdiction,\u201d I said. \u201cShouldn\u2019t you be inside busting kids for no hall pass, instead of wandering around on my turf?\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind me I could hear kids surreptitiously walking away from illicit card games, leaving forgotten Pokemon cards to languish in the dirt. No one wanted to cross the monitors. They were nothing but a bunch of thugs with detention pads, but they could make life hard for a kid.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecial assignment,\u201d said Breyers. Stahl said nothing.<\/p>\n
Breyers and me go way back. Back in kindergarten we were even what you\u2019d call pals, until he developed a sweet tooth and started making candy grabs from the class jar when the teacher wasn\u2019t looking. I caught him in the act, my first bust. I got a gold star out of the deal while Breyers did a stint in timeout. He cleaned up his act afterwards, and we\u2019d both ended up in the services: me a crossing guard, him a monitor. But there was bad blood between us ever since. The bruiser with him \u2014 Stahl \u2014 I didn\u2019t know anything about, other than he was twice the size of a normal sixth grader and had been following Breyers around like a puppy for the last month or so.<\/p>\n
I asked Breyers. \u201cWhat kind of special assignment?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked smug. \u201cSomeone\u2019s been swiping gym equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard.\u201d I wasn\u2019t sure about the going price for hot football flags and orange cones, but I guessed someone was making a pretty profit from them. Anyway, it wasn\u2019t my problem.<\/p>\n
Breyers nodded. \u201cYou hear that whoever it was left a broken Hula-Hoop in the shed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI got ears, don\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we turned up a matching hoop. Bent up to fit in a locker.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh?\u201d Ears or no, I hadn\u2019t heard any of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe perp\u2019s turning himself in today.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was unexpected. Why would they turn themselves in? And why out here? Breyers crossed his arms and gave me a self-satisfied grin.<\/p>\n
\u201cStick around,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll see how a real bust goes down when I take this twerp in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will …\u201d I shrugged. \u201cOr you won\u2019t. It\u2019s all the same to me.\u201d My lack of admiration pushed his buttons.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, it\u2019ll matter to you,\u201d he said. \u201cI know all about your little empire out here, Vasquez. Shaking down Sammie for free drinks, turning a blind eye to kids running with suckers. Pretty soon you\u2019re gonna take a tumble, and I\u2019m gonna be here to watch you fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t say anything. There wasn\u2019t any \u201cempire,\u201d just kids being kids. And as long as things stayed civil, that was fine with me. I figured a crossing guard should be judicious about her use of authority.<\/p>\n
\u201cBesides,\u201d he said, \u201cthere\u2019s another angle on the gym heist.\u201d<\/p>\n
I kept my mouth shut, knowing he\u2019d talk. He didn\u2019t disappoint.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose Hula-Hoops? They were on loan from the Junior High.\u201d<\/p>\n
My blood ran cold at that. It meant that whoever had swiped the hoops had crossed the Big Kids. Dangerous and unpredictable, they were more like adults than kids. I pitied whoever was going to be taking the fall for this one.<\/p>\n
There was movement in the grove of trees along the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere he comes now.\u201d Breyers elbowed Stahl nervously. The bigger monitor shot an irritated glance at Breyers, but let it pass.<\/p>\n
Then I saw who stepped from the trees. It was the last person I\u2019d have expected to see caught up in something like this: maybe the only good soul in all of Fillmore Middle School. My sweet Markus.<\/p>\n
Markus, the library assistant. He of the argyle sweaters and soft brown eyes. Jay-Z in coke-bottle glasses. He had perfect attendance and a gentle smile, and we\u2019d once held hands on a field trip to the art museum. He had librarian\u2019s hands, soft and fine-boned. The kind of hands that would never know the burden that came with carrying a crossing flag.<\/p>\n
Right now those same hands were holding a broken Hula-Hoop. It was bent in the top, the arc bisected and coming together. The bottom side pinched in and pointed down. Markus held it in front of him and it looked all the world like an oversized, blue-and-white-striped valentine. My own heart melted a little to see him.<\/p>\n
Markus looked at Breyers and stammered out, \u201cI am here to turn myself in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breyers widened his eyes. \u201cIs that so? I am shocked to see you here, Markus.\u201d<\/p>\n
My librarian took a deep breath. \u201cI am overcome with remorse.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019d heard less-rehearsed dialogue at Christmas pageants. I didn\u2019t know what was going on, but someone had forced Markus into this.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop talking,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShaddup.\u201d It was big Stahl, the first thing he\u2019d said since he and Breyers had shown their mugs on my playground. I glared back at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you have something else to say, librarian?\u201d Breyers stared at Markus and nodded his head, as if prompting him somehow.<\/p>\n
Markus nodded back. \u201cYes \u2014\u201d I caught his eye, wordlessly pleading with him to stop this madness. I knew he could barely hold 20 Hula-Hoops, let alone run off with them. He sighed and looked back to Breyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust that I did this alone, is all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breyers\u2019 face went red. He opened his mouth to say something but I spoke first.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo is this why you came out here, Breyers? So you could write him a detention slip in front of me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Markus swayed on his feet at the word \u201cdetention.\u201d I reached out to steady him. \u201cIt\u2019ll be okay,\u201d I whispered. \u201cYou\u2019ll do your time and get out. I\u2019ll be waiting for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breyers shot forward and pushed himself between us, bumping my shoulder and knocking the crossing guard badge from my vest. It struck Sammie\u2019s bar, spinning a lazy dance across the plywood before falling to the ground. Breyers and I were almost nose to nose.<\/p>\n
\u201cDetention?\u201d Up close Breyers\u2019 breath was a foul blend of Twizzlers and lemonade. \u201cNah, I don\u2019t think so, Vasquez. There\u2019s folks want to talk to this kid.\u201d He jerked his chin to the north, across the parking lot towards Fillmore Junior High. Big Kids. My hand instinctively tightened on the crossing flag. I turned back to Markus, in a last desperate bid to talk sense into him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarkus, you didn\u2019t do anything! Why are you caving in like this?\u201d<\/p>\n
My librarian couldn\u2019t even look me in the eye, just stared past me to Sammie\u2019s stand, as if he longed for one last Dixie cup-sized swig of sugar before he was hauled off to meet his fate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI acted alone \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
Stahl\u2019s deeper voice rumbled over all of ours. \u201cSave it. You\u2019re coming with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and Breyers sidled up to either side of my sweet librarian.<\/p>\n
Markus gave them a weak smile. \u201cHey, fellas. How about you do me a solid and let me say goodbye to Seraphina, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n
Breyers sneered. \u201cSay goodbye while you\u2019re walking, bookworm.\u201d He pushed Markus forward, and all three of them started towards the junior high. From what sounded like a million miles away, I heard the end-of-day bell ringing its shrill declaration of release.<\/p>\n
My brain and heart both screamed for me to do something<\/p>\n
No, no, no.<\/em> This was all wrong, such a heavy-handed setup, and I was useless. If I couldn\u2019t save Markus, then I couldn\u2019t save anyone. What was the whole point of being a crossing guard, anyway?<\/p>\n I looked down at the grimy badge at my feet. There was still some shine to it, even laying there in the dirt. I picked it up and cradled it in my hand, like an orphaned bunny. The shield had meant so much to me back when I first started guarding. Maybe it was time to make it mean something again.<\/p>\n \u201cSammie!\u201d I barked. \u201cGimmie one for the road.\u201d<\/p>\n My eyes were on the three figures walking away from me, but I heard the Dixie cup slam down next to me, and from the pour I could tell Sammie\u2019s hand was shaking.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not about to do something stupid, Sera?\u201d<\/p>\n I threw back the shot of lemonade and bit down on the lemon slice, but I didn\u2019t spit it out. The yellow rind ringed my teeth, and acted like a makeshift mouthpiece.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t use that word,\u201d I said, though I suppose the lemon probably muffled it. I sprinted forward, dodging in and out among the stream of kids exiting school doors, waving my flag to clear them, running through the playground like I owned it. My heart was pumping. The movement felt good, felt right. The world may still have been a cold and callous place, but for the first time in forever, I was doing something about it.<\/p>\n I caught up to the monitors and Markus halfway across the playground. Breyers was still whispering into Markus\u2019 ear, and my librarian wobbled slightly on his feet as they walked. Probably telling him stories of wedgies and swirlies, and all the other enhanced detention techniques the Big Kids used.<\/p>\n I ran in front of them and dropped my crossing flag in their path. They halted immediately.<\/p>\n \u201cThith thetup thtinks.\u201d<\/p>\n I got back only stares.<\/p>\n Breyers shaded his eyes. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n I spit the lemon rind out of my mouth and tried again. \u201cSomething stinks about this, Breyers, and not just your breath. This is a frame job.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know,\u201d said Breyers, \u201cI think you\u2019re right. In fact, Markus here was just telling us that he\u2019d maybe rather not deal with the Big Kids. He\u2019d maybe like to tell us who he\u2019s working for.\u201d He smacked Markus on the back. \u201cIsn\u2019t that right, kid?\u201d<\/p>\n Markus was quiet for a long breath. Never looking up from his feet, in a small voice he said, \u201cSeraphina made me do it. She\u2019s the mastermind.\u201d<\/p>\n Breyers beamed.<\/p>\n My throat constricted, and I hunched over. I looked up at Markus and willed myself not to show how hurt I was.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of you shaddup.\u201d It was Stahl again, pushing us around like a typical monitor.<\/p>\n Well I was sick of getting pushed around. I was sick of good kids being ground up like yesterday\u2019s meatloaf. And most of all I was sick to my stomach of Breyers\u2019 sense of triumph, of his leering grin and foul breath, that unholy combination of Twizzlers and \u2014<\/p>\n It hit me like a dodge ball across the face.<\/p>\n \u201cLemonade,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n They all looked at me when I spoke. Everyone except Markus. His guilty eyes were still boring holes into the ground. I couldn\u2019t believe I hadn\u2019t seen it before. If someone wanted to move stolen gym goods, they\u2019d need someone to act as a fence. Someone who operated in a gray zone at the border of the school\u2019s authority. I turned slowly. Sammie wasn\u2019t at his stand. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n I pretend-spit on the ground. \u201cThat little booger-eater \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Stahl rumbled, \u201cLanguage, Vasquez.\u201d<\/p>\n Breyers forced a nervous laugh. \u201cWhat are you talking about? Stahl, do you know what she\u2019s talking about?\u201d His eyes danced back and forth. \u201cI don\u2019t know what she\u2019s \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShaddup,\u201d Stahl cut him off. The brute was looking at me. \u201cBreyers hasn\u2019t talked to the perp in weeks, if that\u2019s what you\u2019re thinking. But he did tell Markus what\u2019ll happen if he doesn\u2019t come clean.\u201d He turned to Markus. \u201cI\u2019d like to remind you that the Big Kids and I will look very unfavorably on any mistruths. You better come clean.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMarkus,\u201d I said, \u201cI know who put you up to this. And I\u2019ll bust him. So anything he has on you will come out in the open sooner or later.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally breaking, Markus screamed, \u201cSammie made me!\u201d<\/p>\n I pulled Markus away from the monitors, holding his shoulders and doing my best not to shake sense into him. \u201cBut why? Why were you taking a dive for Sammie?\u201d<\/p>\n Markus covered his face with his hands, as if he could hide from what he\u2019d done. \u201cHe was putting the squeeze on me, Sera. He knew about my library fines. If he went public with that, I\u2019d be ruined. Ruined! All I had to do was turn you in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe needed me out of the way before I got wise to his fence operation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe said if I blamed you, I\u2019d walk and he\u2019d keep quiet about my \u2014 my overdues.\u201d He dropped his hands then and looked at me. \u201cBut I couldn\u2019t do it. When I saw you there, I couldn\u2019t go through with it. I didn\u2019t know what I was doing, I just \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n Stahl broke in. \u201cSo it was you and Sammie.\u201d<\/p>\n I turned to him, ready to chew him a new one for still thinking either I or Markus was involved. But Stahl wasn\u2019t looking at us. Instead, he had hold of Breyers\u2019 shirt in one of his over-sized fists. \u201cI knew you had a stooge, I just wasn\u2019t sure who it was.\u201d<\/p>\n Then I got it: All the times Stahl had spoken that day \u2014 the broken, barely intelligible commands of \u201cShaddup\u201d \u2014 he hadn\u2019t been telling me to stop talking, he\u2019d been trying to get Markus to stop incriminating himself.<\/p>\n I pointed at Stahl. \u201cSo you\u2019re \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInternal Affairs,\u201d he said. The hulking monitor was still up in Breyers\u2019 face. \u201cI\u2019ve been on you for a month now,\u201d he thunked Breyers in the chest with an oversized finger. \u201cI wanted to pop you for so many small things, but this \u2026 this is too good.\u201d<\/p>\n Breyers was pale, shaking and \u2014 for once in his life \u2014 quiet. I wish I could say I didn\u2019t enjoy seeing him twist, but it did my heart glad to be there to watch him fall.<\/p>\n Stahl spun Breyers around, facing the Junior High, then looked my way. \u201cThat was pretty fast thinking. And acting.\u201d He paused, and I could practically hear the gears turning. \u201cYou ever think about joining the monitors?\u201d<\/p>\n I hacked out a laugh and swung an arm, a gesture that encompassed the playground and parking lot. \u201cWhat, and give all this up?\u201d<\/p>\n Stahl grunted.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re all right, Vasquez.\u201d He shoved Breyers forward with one of his oversized mitts. \u201cBut keep your nose clean, or I\u2019ll be back for you.\u201d Then he and Breyers headed off towards the Big Kids\u2019 school.<\/p>\n \u201cSeraphina \u2026\u201d It was Markus. He held out one of his gentle librarian\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n My voice was so cold it even surprised me. \u201cThat\u2019s Officer Vasquez to you.\u201d<\/p>\n His hand dropped to his side.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to do. Sammie said \u2026\u201d Those big brown eyes started to water up behind his glasses. When I spoke my voice was softer.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not cut out for this life. Get outta here.\u201d<\/p>\n He started to say something else, but I cut him off.<\/p>\n \u201cGo on, kid. There\u2019s a Dewey decimal system that needs tending to.\u201d<\/p>\n Markus looked away and waited a heartbeat, just long enough for me to hope that he\u2019d refuse. Then he turned and began the long walk back to the library.<\/p>\n I watched him go, then looked back at the Big Kids\u2019 school. Stahl and Breyers had reached the big glass doors of the Junior High. Justice was about to be served. I tugged my Hello Kitty shirt and turned my back to them, standing a little straighter in my neon-yellow vest.<\/p>\n It ain\u2019t easy out here. There\u2019s candy wrappers in the bushes and gum on the sidewalk. Two times a day there\u2019s kids that need to cross the street.<\/p>\n And me? I\u2019m Seraphina Vasquez.<\/p>\n I\u2019m the crossing guard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sammie\u2019s Stand was a cobbled-together lean-to with faded paint that sat at the far end of the grounds shared by the Fillmore Middle School and Junior High. The stand straddled the property line between the school playground and the adjacent city park. That put it in a legal gray zone \u2014 both the teachers and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}