He really hadn’t expected her to have any of the students waiting on customers, but she didn’t give him a chance to tell her. He shook his head sadly. He knew too many people like her. Ransom knew some boys gravitated to gangs because they were looking for something they didn’t have at home—a sense of family. But he hated the way people sometimes tended to prejudge teens. There was always a reason for bad behavior, but most adults didn’t want to dig deep enough to find it. No one had given up on him, so Ransom vowed to do all he could to help out in turn. He was never going to give up on any child. Before he ended his canvassing, Ransom picked up two more companies willing to give volunteer hours, so he considered his venture successful. He walked to the deli in the next block to pick up lunch before returning to the center. Some weeks he had as many as ten boys at D-Unit, but he averaged around four or five. He currently had four students, and decided two would go to the Stanley Chocolates factory, one to the grocery store, and the other would do his community service at the restaurant across the street.
