A Long Walk Home

Chapter One: Baker

I can remember when the bigger guys at school would take my lunch and throw it away, saying that my eating it would be wasteful. Day after day, they did that and I just stood there stone-cold and took it. I let them do what they wanted, and I always let them finish what they started, never once begging for mercy. "If you never let them win they never can," I would say. For a while this was how I dealt with the bullies, at least until one fateful night talking with the realest man I ever met.

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Alice Brown and I were really close friends outside of school, but we avoided each other during school to keep her from becoming a bullying target. She was the most beautiful girl at the place. I thought so, at least. Her eyes were green and soft, and they never failed to bring solace. Her hair was a rich deep-gold, and she alternated between all curled up or straightened constantly. She always had a pack of gum with her somewhere, at all times. Her favorite gum flavor always seemed odd to me; Cinnamon. Who likes cinnamon gum? I mean, cinnamon is great on pastries, but have you ever had cinnamon gum? I swear, it tastes like the love-child of tree bark and a burnt candle!

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One day, I woke up and got ready for school, lonely as usual. My Mom had already left for work and I assumed my brother was still passed out in his room like always. When I went out to the driveway, I was met with a horrifying discovery. My car was gone! I ran back inside to ask my brother where it was, but when I busted into his room, he was nowhere in sight. The devil had to have taken my car last night and not come back with it! Who knew where he was, what with his habits, and here I was with no car to get to school with.

I examined the situation, looking for a way out. There was one option; I could take a bus. But I'd never seen the bus come by my house. I thought a moment. I was sure there was a bus for every block, but I'd never seen one here. I always left by 7:20. Surely that meant that it came after 7:20? I sure hoped so. I waited. Five minutes crawled by with no sighting of a bus. Five more minutes. No luck. Then, suddenly, I watched the yellow beast round the corner at the end of my street. I shot up and bolted to the nearest bus stop. Arriving just in time, I jumped on and headed for the back. This was going to be a long day.

As I was going through the motions, heading on to my next class, I spotted Alice in the huge mass of students. Everyone was moving together, like a herd of cattle. Alice saw me and our eyes met. She smiled and beckoned for me to come over to her. I picked up my pace and crossed the sea of kids towards Alice as casually as I could, so as not to gather any negative attention towards her. Up close, she and I both kept looking and walking forward, as if we didn't know each other, when she spoke up.

"Ey, what'r'ya doin' tonight?" she asked me, her pronunciation slurred by a single stick of chewing gum. I sensed the bite of cinnamon on her breath, and let the spice relieve the stress of the day.

"I've got no plans, what's up?" I answered, eyes forward onto the mindless movements of my innumerable class-mates.

"You should come o'er to my house t'day an' have dinner with my fam'ly. You wanna?" she offered, without hesitation.

"Oh yeah, that sounds great!" I said, "Uh, what time do you think?"

"Hmmm..." she blew a small red bubble with her gum as she thought, "My mom's gonna pick me up af'er school t'day, since my car's in the shop, an' she can give you a ride then too?"