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out about.”
    “You touch her, and I’ll have you locked up!”
    “You’re just mad I knocked you out at the senior prom, Lawrence! These are two good boys that you are tormenting. If you get the kids out of here, who will take over the area when you die?”
    “You caught me with a lucky punch,” Mr. Oliver huffed, dropping his hands to his side.
    “Want to bet?” Ms. Penny said, dropping her hand and balling her fist.
    Shocked, Mr. Oliver stepped back. “You’re threatening me.”
    “Damn straight,” Ms. Penny growled. “If I come over this fence, you aren’t leaving the hospital for a month.”
    “We’ll see about that,” Mr. Oliver stuttered, backing away, then turned feebly and trotted to his house.
    When he was inside, Ms. Penny turned around and ran her hands over her silver hair, smoothing it down. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the boys, who were staring at her in awe with open mouths. “Boys, let’s keep that between us,” she said, stopping and patting both on the cheek.
    They both nodded as she stepped around them. “Lawrence was always a bully; that’s why he became a cop—so he could do it legally—but he didn’t always have his badge on, and many around here caught up with him,” she said, walking away.
    When Ms. Penny walked inside, the boys looked at each other. “That was so cool,” Lance said, shaking his head and grinning.
    “I loved her before, but now, I’m in love with her,” Ian said, grabbing the basketball. “Think he’ll call the cops?”
    “He does every weekend, so why should this one be different?” Lance said. “They quit coming out a year ago, but he always calls.”
    “Man, I wish we could get the goats,” Ian said, taking a shot at the basket.
    “The only day the goats wouldn’t be missed is Sunday after the farmhands leave Saturday afternoon. That’s why we have to move them Saturday night,” Lance pointed out, moving over to get the ball then took a shot.
    “I know; I wish the farmhands would just take a three-day weekend.”
    As Ian caught the ball when it dropped through the net, Lance moved under the basket and said, “You would think after all the times we’ve rolled his house and other things, he would get the point and leave us alone.”
    “I liked it when we rigged his lawn mower to take off full speed when he climbed on and started it,” Ian laughed as he shot the basketball, hitting nothing but net.
    Catching the ball, Lance laughed, “That old fart was cussing everyone and their mother as he shot down the street. I bet he was doing twenty miles an hour till he hit that mailbox.”
    As Lance shot the ball, Ian followed it with his eyes and caught it when it sailed through the net. “I really thought our parents were going to start torturing us to get us to admit we did it,” Ian said, dribbling the ball back as Lance moved under the net.
    “Yeah, Mom kept at me for three hours straight till she finally gave up,” Lance said as Ian shot the ball. “It still wasn’t as bad as the time we put the beehive in the school cafeteria.”
    Watching his shot sail through the hoop, Ian huffed, “You’re damn right on that. I thought I was going to get beat with a tire iron.”
    “Mom said it was too much of a coincidence that we were getting our garden merit badge working at the honeybee farm and suddenly a wild colony shows up in the school cafeteria,” Lance said, catching the basketball.
    Ian laughed as he walked over to the basketball goal. “Man, you remember those cafeteria workers running out screaming.” Lance dribbled out and spun around, took a shot, and hit the backboard, and the ball dropped through the net.
    “It was morning, and the bees weren’t even active yet.” Lance shrugged, walking over to the goal as Ian dribbled out. “We should’ve waited longer before we did that though. We were really the only suspects that could pull that off.”
    Spinning around and hooking a shot, Ian watched his ball sail