Grace on the Block

1 Chapter 1 — Run, Greg The first shot cracked across the basketball court before Gregory Carter could release the ball. He caught it against his chest. For half a second nobody moved. Then a second shot came from outside the fence, and every child at the Cobbs Creek Recreation Center ran for the doors. “Down!” Coach Isaiah Bell shouted. Greg dropped behind the low concrete wall beside the court. The ball bounced away, orange against gray, and rolled beneath the feet of a boy in a denim jacket. The boy stumbled through the gate from 63rd Street, one hand pressed to his side. Greg knew him by sight from Market Street: Andre “Dre” Wilkes, a runner for the Cedar Kings. Across the court, Leon Price had gone back for his little brother, Malik. Leon pulled him behind the wall and wrapped both arms around his head. Tasha Green, who lived two doors from Greg on 62nd and Chestnut, was already leading a line of younger children through the rec center entrance. She looked back once and counted faces. Greg should have followed her. Instead he saw Dre fall. Ten minutes earlier, Greg had been arguing with Leon about the last point. Their games had rules that