ROBBED BY S T I T C H E S Cleopatra
Salam
Cops and robbers wasn’t a game any more. All eyes were on me being carried on the stretcher. With Dolphie in hand, I carried it through. All the way to the emergency room. About eight stitches to my name, and until this day, I will not play that game. A sunny day over summer break, we all came out to play. Here they all come: Jeremy and Xavier, the curly headed twins; Brian, their half brother; Palima, the sweet but feisty girl; and her younger siblings Justin, the broad football player, and Penelope, the sensitive one, then the one who ruined the game, Ali, the eldest one. That’s all I know. There were also two other girls who looked like me that lived in Jeremy’s building, but I don’t know them. “Wanna play cops and robbers?” my brother shouted. All the boys shook their heads. That’s all the opinions my brother needed. The boys always overruled the girls. They choose what we do. The first cop was my brother, the fastest of the group. “1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . . 5 . . . 6 . . . 7 . . . 8 . . . 9 . . . 10, HANDS UP!” my brother shouted. All of us were hiding behind cars across the whole block. There he goes, zooming after Justin. They kept going around the red SUV until Jeremy tried to run past them and got caught. He was escorted behind the gate in front of my house. My brother closed the gate and sped past me to get Xavier, Brian, and Justin. I got lucky until he made Justin a cop. They made Ali a cop and left all the girls for last. Justin caught me trying to hide in the “junkyard” a few doors down from his home. He made me run to the gate. I was so tired, but the wind felt good blowing past my face. Palima and Penelope were left. Ali was keeping a 363
