Contents
* * *
Title Page
Contents
Dedication
Copyright
Looking Back
1988
May 28, 1988
I used to play H.O.R.S.E.
Sometimes, I wish
So Fly!
Skinny picks
Home
Black Hole
Conversation
In the Morning
Ten Reasons Why I Hate Sirens
Today
There’s an old house
Sanctuary
Flipper McGhees
Me and Skinny
Conversation with Skinny
Thought
Who’s Bad?
Hooky
Memory
I skipped school today
After dinner
Oops!
Conversation (that ends badly)
Overheard
Things I Think About Before I Fall Asleep
Lunch
In preschool
Things I Think About in Gym Class
Unlucky
Lucky
Chills
Yo, Charlie, you all right?
Queasy
After School
After not eating
Conversation (at my front door)
Ivan
On our way to Quik-Mart
But, before I can say
The Loot
Interruption
I drift off
Alarm
Interrogation
Trouble
The Truth
Dead Man Walking
The sky looks
She makes me knock
A very big dog
Thought
Great Dane
Consequence (Part One)
Things I Think About on the Walk Home
Bomb
You want to go to jail, Charlie
Blame
The Last Straw
School
When I get home
Why I Don’t Like Dogs
Walking Woodrow
Unleashed
The Last Day of School
I tell them
The dog
She named her Abraham Lincoln?
Friday
Saturday
Consequence (Part Two)
I almost drop my
Three-Way Conversation
Reprieve
Renaming
Me and CJ
On Friday
Farewell
The Rink
The Big Move
I’m sorry, guys
Skating with CJ
Doomsday
Conversation with Skinny
Steaming
68 Minutes Later
116 Minutes
132 Minutes
158 Minutes
Questions
Answers
Thought
The Arrival
Lord Have Mercy
Dread
Fried Chicken
Small Talk at Dinner
After
Hustle and Grind
Thought
He watches me
Conversation with Mom
I wake up
Why are all these lights on
Break of Dawn
The Walk
Kerplunk
Conversation with Granddaddy
Breakfast
My cousin Roxie
Conversation (One-sided)
She Got Game
HEY, CHARLIE, COME PLAY A GAME WITH US
Four Hours Later
Jazz
It’s a metaphor, he says
Mom calls
Saturday Morning
Your grandmother
Them’s my apples
Grabbing
Monday Morning
Grandma and Granddad talk
Work
Escape to the Arcade
Three-on-Three
The Score
10–9
Get in the Game
Huddle
Awry
After Roxie checks
Amen
Hallelujah
On the way home
Practice
Phone Message
Phone Message From CJ
Mockery
When we walk into
Coach Roxie
Scorched
Good Night
Friday
Saturday
My Dad’s Comic Books
At 2:45 a.m.
Three hours later
Conversation with Grandma
Why
Sometimes, I wish
But for now
Later
Practice
Surprise
Roxie got all As
Say Cheese
Nosebleed
If watching
Halftime
When the announcer reads
Sweet Georgia Brown
What are the chances?
C.U.R.L.Y.
After all the halftime excitement
On the train ride home
YO, CHARLIE BELL!
Skinny in DC
Surprise
Dear Charlie
Dear Charlie (cont’d)
I read
Practice
More Practice
Pickup Game
I don’t score
Guess Who
Envy
When I get home
Conversation at Roxie’s Front Door
Solo
The two old men
She pulls out
Percival Bell, Age 22
Jordan Bell, Age 23
Joshua Bell, Age 37
Family History
Phone Message
When Granddaddy hollers
Phone Call with CJ
Memory
The Big Game
Wink brings the ball
Playing by Twos
But wait
Down by One
Showcase
The Last Shot
Game Over
Resolve
Surprise
July 2
New Sneakers
The Fourth
Basketball Rule
Let’s Ball
The Plan
I get off the train
Waiting in Line
Fight
Inside
C’MON, CHARLIE, RUN!
Déjà Vu
SIRENS
The Crime
Arrested
Locked Up
Things I Think About While I’m in Jail
The Black Panther
Consequence (Part Three)
Freedom
There’s a Hole In my Soul
Rebound
Homecoming
After I hug Grandma
Conversation with Mom
6:00 a.m.
Peaches and Hope
Bet
One-on-One
Goodbyes
Conversation with Granddadddy
2018 (Thirty Years Later)
June 14, 2018
Conversation
Air Ball
Graduation Gift
She hands me
Dear boys
Later that summer
Conversation with Your Mother
Sample Chapters from THE CROSSOVER
Buy the Book
Sample Chapters from BOOKED
Buy the Book
Middle Grade Mania!
About the Author
Connect with HMH on Social Media
Footnotes
For Mommy
Copyright © 2018 by Kwam
e Alexander
Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Dawud Anyabwile
All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to trade.permissions@hmhco.com or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.
hmhco.com
Cover photo © by John Huet
Cover design by Lisa Vega and Sammy Yuen
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file.
ISBN 978-0-544-86813-7
eISBN 978-1-328-55813-8
Looking Back
It was the summer
when Now and Laters
cost a nickel
and The Fantastic Four,
a buck.
When I met
Harriet Tubman
and the Harlem Globetrotters.
It was the hottest summer
after the coldest winter ever,
when a storm shattered
my home
into a million little pieces
and soaring above
the sorrow and grief
seemed impossible.
It was the summer of 1988,
when basketball gave me wings
and I had to learn
how to rebound
on the court.
And off.
May 28, 1988
The game is on
at the park.
The stars are out.
It’s close to dark.
Hoop Kings
SOARing
in the SKY
so high
so fly
like they Got Wings
(it’s like the blacktop
is a boxSPRING)
Hey, Charlie, you see what he did with that THING!
my best friend, Skinny, yells
T
W
I
R
L
I
N
G and WHIRLING the ball
so sweet
it’s like a bee s t i n g
(Ouch!)
He just Swished
in your Face.
Stung you like
a can of mace
These boys so fly
they’re outta SPACE!
C’mon, Charlie, I got next. Let’s hoop, Skinny says,
jumping up from the sidewalk.
Nah, I gotta get home for dinner, I lie.
I used to play H.O.R.S.E.
against my father, and sometimes I
won, but when I tried playing on
a team, I’d get too nervous
to shoot, too scared of the
ball (like the time I
missed a pass and
got hit up-
side the
head).
Sometimes, I wish
I was a superhero,
superfly
like Quicksilver
speed-racing
down the court
sleek as a sports car
faster than NASCAR,
leaving all my sadness
in the dust—far,
far away
from now.
Wish I could soar
score
throw down
a monster dunk
like I was Thor.
Wish I could elevate
my name
with game so good
it’s hall of fame!
Wish I could forget
all the pain.
Yeah, that’s what I wish . . .
Skinny picks
some other boy
to be on his team,
which is cool with me,
’cause I’d much rather be
at home
lying across
my bed
reading comics.
See you tomorrow, Skinny,
I yell,
but he’s already
on the court
running a game
and his mouth.
Home
The Fantastic Four
chase
Galactus
through the universe
on a time sled
when they get sucked into
a black hole
that nearly burns them
to holy hand grenades.
But Thor’s hammer
KABOOMS them
outta impending doom,
right smack in the middle
of an intergalactic civil war
between armed battleships
that makes Star Wars
look like a playground fight.
Before they get shot up,
Reed
a.k.a. Stretch
a.k.a. Mister Fantastic
uses THE TIME DILATION EFFECT
to freeze EVERYTHING
and move them back
in time.
I wish
I could do
the same thing
and get outta
this black hole
I’m trapped in . . .
Black Hole
My dad was a star
in our neighborhood.
Everybody knew him.
He taught
adults to read
in the mornings,
and taught
night school
to kids
with problems
who got kicked
out of regular school.
Each summer
just me and him
would pack up
his pickup truck
and road trip
to as many state capitals
as we could
in the two weeks
he had for vacation.
My least favorite
was Dover, Delaware,
’cause the major tourist attraction
was a mortuary
that processed
the remains
of over 50,000 soldiers.
This year,
I turned twelve
and he promised
to take me
to the Appalachians,
Charleston,
Knoxville,
Louisville,
to hike,
and he promised
to get me
some fresh sneakers
and let me
taste beer,
as long as
You don’t tell
your mother, Charlie.
But none of that ever happened
because at 9:01 p.m.
on the ninth of March
my star exploded
and everything
froze.
Conversation
Why aren’t you doing your homework?
Mom, can’t you knock first.
It’s my house, I don’t have to knock. I asked you a question.
It’s the end of school, we don’t really have homework.
Can you put your comic book down for a second? I want to talk with you.
What?
Don’t say WHAT to me.
Yes?
Summer’s here in two weeks, and I was thinking maybe we could go to Boston or Providence.
Why?
They’re capitals.
No thanks.
C’mon, Charlie, it’ll be fun.
I don’t want to go there.
Then how about SeaWorld?
No thanks.
Honey, you loved SeaWorld.
Yeah, and I also sat in a car seat when I was four, but you know things change, Mom.
Charlie Bell, always a comedian.
. . .
There’s an overnight basketball camp.
I don’t like basketball.
Since when?
Since now. Plus, I don’t have any sneakers.
Then what are those things I bought you for Christmas.
Nobody
wears Zips, Mom.
They make your feet run faster, she says, giggling.
Be serious, Mom. I hate those sneakers.
Be grateful for what you have, Charlie. Some kids don’t even have shoes to wear.
. . .
How were your tests?
Fine.
. . .
Can I have some money for lunch?
I gave you lunch money on Monday.
It’s gone.
Lunch money is for lunch, not comics.
Well, pay me allowance like all my friends get.
Allowance? How about I allow you to have clothes and food and shelter?
So we’re just always gonna be poor?
We have everything we need.
Not everything.
. . .
. . .
Charlie, just tell me what you want to do.
I want. To read. My comics. Okay!
That’s all you’ve been doing lately. I miss you.
What are you talking about? I’m right here.
Let’s play Scrabble or cards, then.
Stop acting like everything’s normal. IT’S NOT!
Then let’s talk about what happened.
. . .
I know you’re sad, but—
I’M MAD!
That’s why we have to talk about it.
I don’t have nothing to say.
Anything. I don’t have anything to say.
Whatever, I mumble.
Look, you can be angry, but you can’t be disrespectful.
. . .
We’ll finish this later. Dinner’s ready, come on downstairs.
I don’t want noth— anything to eat.
In the Morning
Each day I wake to the BOOM BAP of
my clock radio playing rap
music, but today I’m blasted
by a loud siren that
jolts me awake and
sends me back to
that day when
my life
changed.
Ten Reasons Why I Hate Sirens
Because I hadn’t eaten dinner and I was starving