Normally Danny would not have been walking along this route to school, but since he was coming from Rodger’s Home for the Agedly Gifted, he was on Seventh Street at just the right time. He was rehearsing the moves he’d learned, in his head, muttering the steps to himself, when he heard a horn honk. Looking around, he saw Beau’s father’s SUV coming down the street behind him. He could see it was Beau driving, and just lifted a hand to wave, wishing he had the guts to just wave one finger. He reached the corner just as Beau did, and just exactly as a small boy on a new Christmas bike came tearing down the half-salted, half-snowy road to cross in front of them. Danny stopped, but neither the boy nor Beau did, even though it was a four-way stop. Beau was leaning on the horn and he and a couple
