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insisted.
"By the looks of it, we'll be doing the owner a favor."
    I hesitated and Stewart started spraying the
car. "Am I gonna have to do this all by myself?" he asked, glaring
at me.
    I didn't want him to be on my case about
being chicken from now on, so I joined in.
    We pretty much emptied our cans on the
car.
    "Wish I could see the owner's face when he
gets a load of our paint job," Stewart said, laughing. "He might
even thank us, if he knew who we were."
    I frowned. "I don't know about that."
    I was putting the can in his backpack when
the porch light came on at the house in front of the car. A burly
forty-something man opened the door with a pissed look on his
face.
    "What the hell did you do to my car?" he
growled.
    "Uh oh," I said nervously. "We better get
outta here."
    Stewart hopped on his bike. "Yeah, let's do
it."
    I got on my bike as the man stormed out of
the house. He started to chase us up the street, but couldn't catch
up. He finally gave up with a few choice words.
    "Better luck next time, old fart," Stewart
shouted brazenly.
    I sucked in a deep breath, my heart pounding
wildly. "Wow! That was a close call."
    Stewart snickered. "Are you kidding? That
old guy is way too out of shape to make it interesting."
    "Maybe, but we probably shouldn't have
emptied our cans on his car like we did."
    "Well, it's too late to think about that
now," Stewart said. "Let's just be glad he didn't get his hands on
us."
    I imagined the man's hands wrapped around my
neck, and felt a chill at the thought. Right now, I just wanted to
beat my mom home and forget about what we did.
    * * *
    We were cruising down the street on our
bikes when the sound of screeching tires caught my ears. I turned
around and saw a car rapidly moving in our direction.
    I recognized the blue paint on the hood. It
was that man coming after us for revenge!
    "It's him!" I yelled. My heart skipped a
beat. Then I heard a dog barking. "And he brought his dog with him!
What are we gonna do now, Stewart?"
    "Out race him," Stewart said, somehow
managing to keep his cool. "That piece of junk will never catch
us."
    "Are you crazy?" I said. "He's got a
car—junk or not—and he's really pissed. We can't beat him at this
game and I'm not even gonna try."
    I darted my bike onto the sidewalk, but kept
moving, planning to turn at the next corner.
    Stewart suddenly lost his courage and
followed me.
    I looked over my shoulder and saw that the
car, with its bright lights on, had partially come onto the
sidewalk as well, and was gaining ground.
    "Still think he can't catch us?" I asked,
pedaling as fast as I could.
    Stewart grimaced. "Not if we keep moving in
different directions. I say we split up and let him try to figure
out which one of us to go after. By the time he does, we'll both be
in the clear."
    "All right," I agreed, and moved onto the
grass.
    Stewart bravely crossed the street and rode
on the sidewalk across from me.
    At first, the car continued to follow me,
but it couldn't get up as far as I was. So the man went after
Stewart.
    "Watch out!" I screamed as Stewart barreled
down the sidewalk as fast as he could with the crazy driver in full
pursuit.
    With another intersection coming up, I
figured Stewart would zoom onto Halstead Street and slip into the
shopping center parking lot to disappear amongst the cars.
    But he never made it that far.
    I watched in stark horror as the car
careened right into him. Stewart went airborne as the car ran over
his bike and crushed it.
    Stewart landed awkwardly on the grass and
wasn't moving. I wanted to help him, but when I reached the end of
the block the man came after me again. His dog was barking
viciously as if it wanted to chew me to bits.
    I sped down Halstead Street, scared out of
my wits. Since there wasn't much cover for me on that side of the
road, I crossed to the other side just as the car rounded the
corner.
    I was in trouble and knew he wouldn't stop
until I was injured or dead like Stewart.
    I pulled out my cell