He could feel the rough bark of the tree against his neck as he pressed closer, trying to make himself assmall as possible. They had almost spotted him as he crossed the small area of grass not covered byscrub oaks and pines. The sun blazed overhead and sweat dripped into his eyes, blinding him. A fewgnats buzzed incessantly around his ears while his right calf began to cramp from squatting. He couldsee a small line of ants circling the toe of his shoe. Soon they would be crawling up into his sock, bitinghim mercilessly. He brushed them away quickly, trying not to move. He thought he could hear voices inthe near distance, but the sounds of birds and chattering squirrels drowned them out. The only thing hecould hear for sure was the sound of his own breathing. Rapid and shallow, he tried to calm it but itonly made him gasp for more. A twig or leaf rustled to his right and he whirled towards it, only to seethat it was a lizard running for cover. “This is insane!” he thought to himself. “I'm never going to makeit back. They're surrounding the front and back!” His despair was shortened by the sound of voices onlyabout 50 feet away. They were whispering so he couldn't hear clearly what they were saying. He con-tinued to listen and realized they speaking about him. “I think I saw him go over there”, one voice said.“All right, you two go over there and we'll check back this way”, he heard another voice say. Theywere getting closer and he knew that he would eventually have to make a break for it. He wondered if he could outrun them at least to the convenience store at the corner. If he did, he could run inside andfind a small amount of sanctuary from the old Pakistani who ran the store from behind the counter.Standing slowly, he looked carefully to his right. Seeing that it was clear, he darted to the next tree,checking back behind him. Seeing no one, he ran as fast as he could to the dirt road that separated thewoods. If he could make it there, it would be just a short distance to the store. Seeing and hearing noone, he dashed on, not stopping until he touched the glass door at the front. Looking behind him, hesaw no one and assumed he was safe at last. The store clerk nodded to him quizzically as he entered,the cold air of the store blasting him appreciatively as he walked in. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, he then went to the back of the store and grabbed a soda from the refrigerator. As he neared thecounter with his soda, he saw the familiar heads of his adversaries approaching from the street. Helingered inside a little longer, looking at the cans of lighter fluid and bags of pork rinds. Nothing wasgoing to get him outside now, and as he watched the boys enter, his heart raced and he moved closer tothe counter. Some ancient hot dogs turned lifelessly on a griddle and he wondered for a moment if theyreally tasted like rubber. The strong smell of onions at the condiment bar mixed terribly with the co-logne the clerk was wearing. He paid for his soda and instead of leaving the store, he checked themagazines at the front. Anything to keep him from going outside. He could see the other boys eyeinghim now, waiting patiently for him to leave. He couldn't really make a break for it because they had left
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