“Scout? Come on, child. It’s getting dark.” Scout turned as her mother came out of the house without windows. Boards with swirled graffiti filled each socket, eyes to a home without a soul. Dropping the piece of onion grass she’d been nibbling on, Scout stood, her gaze drawn back to the children across the way. “Momma, what’s that place there?” Her mother righted her clothing and stashed a bag of her medicine in her pocket. “That ain’t nothing you gots to be worrying about.” Scout regarded the children running over the blacktop, their laughter floating on the breeze and teasing her in ways she didn’t understand. “But why’s all them kids there?” Her mother huffed. “That’s a school, baby. Thems is there to learn.” “Learn what?” “Nothin’ you need to know. We different. Now come on.”
