We watched as the young girl carefully, silently closed the door and held a brown paper package under her arm. Nathan's brow drew together as he looked at her. His nose told him that her brown paper package was hiding salami. His salami.
As backyard terrors go, this girl reeked of it. And our curiosity got the better of us. How could this girl have stolen salami from the butcher's wife?
When her knitted, brown floppy hat turned left at the end of the alley, we followed after her. Once we reached the street, it was pretty easy for us to blend in, which also made the girl harder to spot.
We walked at a brisk pace, not fast enough to catch any unwanted attention, but not slow enough to lose the girl.
"There she is!" Nathan spotted her just a block ahead of us.
She walked casually and her head was held high. By the look of her anyone would think she was a sweet little miss, delivering a package for her dear, old grandmother.
Nathan stumbled and swore under his breath at the uneven sidewalk, never losing sight of the brown paper package and the girl's bobbing brown knitted hat.
"This is crazy," I said.
Nathan was enchanted, "Where can she be going?"
"We should just go back and wait for the truck like you--"
"Oh, forget about the truck, will you?" His look silenced me. "Just shut it and move."
The girl veered left, ducking down another alley. Then she disappeared.
Nathan kicked a rock against the building's wall. He swore quite a lot, as I recall. "Come on," he said, ever the optimist. "She can't be too far."
And she wasn't.
"'Ey! Whadda you two want?" The package was gone, so was her hat. Without them, she stood taller, her hair was fierce, and her eyes wild.
I needed another coke bottle.
She shoved us. "If you think I'm gonna share my score with you two gits, forget it! I got it fair and square!" She raised her shaking fists, and we could see the scars on her knuckles. "Ah, you think you two are smart for following me? I saw you in the butcher's shop. I know what you're after. But you're not getting anything from me."
Nathan's mouth gaped open. Before he could do anything besides blink at the girl, I slowly raised my hands and tried to make myself smaller, less intimidating to the girl. "Look," I said. "We don't want anything. We were just curious."
She stepped towards me, fists at the ready. "Don' gimme that!"
"It's true." Nathan said. "We don't want the salami. We'll just go."
With each step we took back, the girl followed. She stopped when we turned and ran.
When Nathan and I were almost home, we slowed and clutched our sides, panting.
"What..." I began, "da hell... was that?"
Nathan's head dropped, "I dunno."
We stopped and sat on somebody's front steps to cool down and wipe the sweat from our foreheads into our hair.
"Matthew?" I looked at my friend. "She saw us at the butcher's."
"Yeah? I still don't see how she got away from that huge goat lady--thing."
But Nathan knew.
"We're so stupid, Matthew."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because we distracted that old goat while the girl slipped in and took our salami. She must have hid in the back until it was safe to open the door."
We sat in silence for a little while after Nathan's revelation.
Then I said, "She's brilliant."
Nathan rolled his eyes at me, "Yes, yes, okay. Let's just not tell the whole world about it, shall we?" He ran his hands through his hair, then shook out the sweat violently. "If anyone found out that a girl got the better of us, we'd never hear the end of it." He stared me down as if drilling his point into my skull.
"All right!" I said. "I won't say anything."
"We'll just have to keep an eye out for her next time."
My neck snapped around, "Next time?"
"Yeah," my friend said. "Next time, we'll be ready." With a grin on his face, he bounced up onto his feet. "She was kinda cute without that hat, don't you think?"
Now I was the one who couldn't stop staring with my mouth wide open. I watched my friend walk to my house, hands in his pockets, head high, whistling like the devil himself.
"Cute?!" I yelled as I ran after him. I tackled him to the ground, "What's wrong with you?!"
He laughed, "It was a joke, Matthew. Come on. She's a girl for cryin' out loud."
When we all grew up, Nathan married that girl.
For the longest time, that day my friend craved salami had been the worst day of my life.
But now, as his friend, I guess I can be happy for him.
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