Ruby Redfort- Watch Where You Step

An ordinary kid

At the age of eleven, Ruby Redfort came into contact with a boy called Alexander Crawford. The Crawfords had moved in two streets along from the Redforts; they were new to the neighbourhood.
This itself was not a problem; Ruby came into contact with a lot of people, mainly new neighbours. Her parents, of course, insisted on being welcoming and invited this family around for dinner. This also wasn't a problem. Ruby's parents were very social people and insisted on a lot of things.

But this particular new neighbour, this boy, would not stop bugging her about her name. She'd admit it, her name was not entirely ordinary, but surely not that much weirder than Clancy Crew, or Red Monroe?
But according to him, it was a whole lot weirder, and a whole lot funnier because of it.

Alexander Crawford was also not your average boy. He was eighteen, ginormous, and a bully to go along with it. He'd only been in the neighbourhood for about a week and already all the kids were complaining about him pushing them around.

Ruby Redfort did not like bullies. She would have gladly socked him in the nose if it weren't for her parents strict no-fighting rule. She would have gladly had her friend Del Lasco sock him in the nose if it weren't for the fact that Del was already grounded for punching someone else.

So Ruby was left in state of sort of wanting to do something but sort of not being able to do it. It's fair to say that this was a state that Ruby neither enjoyed being in, nor could get out of.

But when Quent Humbert, a family friend of the Redforts (who Ruby did not particularly like), came home crying because Alexander had stolen his bike and his donut, Ruby decided something had to be done.

Not even a week later the Crawfords had skipped town, and no one was exactly sure why. No one, that is, apart from an eleven year old girl who lived in Green- Wood house. Ruby had been doing some digging, and if there was one thing Ruby was good at, it was knowing things that she had no business knowing.

It turns out that Alexander Crawford had been expelled from schools multiple times, locked up in jail multiple times, and was not allowed to set foot in, let alone look at, the state of Virginia. The parents of this troubled child had received a letter explaining the gossipy nature of Twinfordites and a strong recommendation to leave before word of Alexanders past got out.

The letter had not been signed by anyone, but the Crawfords had wisely heeded the advice within.

So Twinford was restored to it's normal peace and quiet, unaware that they had dodged a delinquent bullet. And Ruby Redfort continued to watch out for anything or anyone that might cause her beloved city trouble. Because if anyone was going to stop Twinford going to the dogs, it was her.