From Making Friends with Billy Wong : (Azalea) All it took to send my summer on the road to ruin was a fancy note and a three-cent stamp. The minute that envelope showed up, Mama was packing my suitcase. (Billy) Inside Lucky Foods Grocery Since I was old enough to stand on a wooden fruit crate and roll nickels. First, at my parents' grocery. Now, at Lucky Foods. After school. Most every day. Weekends, too. I've worked hard. Now I run hard, like it's a race, a sprint. All the way back to Lucky Foods. I push open the door. Stop. Catch my breath. Great Aunt waits by the cash register. "Sorry I'm late, Auntie." "Put on your apron. Evening shoppers coming." She disappears into her kitchen behind the store. Smells of pork and onions drift in, mix with peppermints on the counter. Maybe I shouldn't climb trees to daydream in the clouds. But high on a tree branch, stories pop wide open. I tie the white apron around my waist and straighten pickle jars. Stories jumping. Popping. Waiting to explode Onto the pages of the Tiger Times. Billy Wong, Hoping-to-Be Cub Reporter for the Paris Junction Tiger Times School Newspaper Excerpted from Making Friends with Billy Wong by Augusta Scattergood All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
