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back door and pulled them into the kitchen.
    Zack was the first to shout, “Where’s the gator? We want to wrestle it.”
    Shouting wasn’t good for baby Paulo’s digestion.
    Keisha
shhhhh
ed the boys and then whispered, “I think he’s outside.”
    Zeke saw baby Paulo’s unhappy look and went over to him. “Hey there, buster,” he said, rubbing Paulo’s cheek.
    “Well, let’s go, then.” Zack grabbed the doorknob. “I don’t want to be in here when all the action’s outside.”
    Keisha had turned away from Paulo to talk to the boys, so her yogurt-filled spoon was heading in the wrong direction. Paulo started to yelp.
    “Do you suppose my mama would let you hang around outside when there’s an alligator on the loose?”
    Zack let go of the doorknob and shoved his hands in his pockets. Even the Z-Team was a little afraid of Mama.
    “True, but your grandma’s out there. She keeps stepping on the garden hose.”
    “I think we should call the police and have the alligator arrested,” Razi said. He’d taken the spoon from Keisha and was feeding the baby. Keisha let Razitake over because Razi was also good at feeding babies.
    The phone rang.
    “It’s for me!” Razi dropped the spoon on the baby’s tray.
    Correction. Razi was good at feeding babies when there wasn’t anything more interesting to do. Just like the mail, the phone was never for Razi, but he was always sure it was.
    “Hello? Aaliyah? We can’t talk right now because we have to call the police to get the alligator arrested.”
    “Razi!” Keisha was still whispering, though she knew there wasn’t much point. “We’re not supposed to
tell.”
    “Uh-huh, uh-huh. Grandma let him out of the bathroom.”
    “Give me that.” Keisha tried to grab the phone.
    “Wait, we got cut off….” Razi was punching buttons.
    “Ouch!” Aaliyah was saying on the other end of the line. “You’re making me deaf, Razi.”
    Zack quick picked Razi up and dangled him upside down. Zeke started to tickle him.
    “Stop!” Razi was giggling. “Don’t stop. No … stop!”
    Razi dropped the phone, and Keisha almost lost her balance catching it. When she put the phone to her ear,she could hear Aaliyah laughing. “Sounds like you’re playing hip-hopscotch. I better come over.”
    Aaliyah loved hip-hopscotch, which you played just like regular hopscotch, but you had to do a different dance move when you landed in each square.
    “But I stop at alligators. You know I do not hopscotch with alligators,” Aaliyah said. “Key, do you really have one over there?”
    Keisha wasn’t sure what to say. “We did,” she finally said. “We do. We just can’t put our finger on him at the moment.”
    “So it’s escaped. As in ‘running wild in the neighborhood.’”
    “Well, he
might
still be in the house.”
    “If it’s true there’s an alligator loose in Alger Heights, you know Moms is not going to let me outside this house.
Ever
. And it’s almost summer vacation! How are we going to practice?”
    Aaliyah spent the summer days at the house of her granny—whom everyone called Moms—while her parents were working. Even though it wasn’t summer vacation yet, Aaliyah was spending the holiday weekend with Moms so her parents could attend their college reunion. Moms lived right around the corner from the Carters. Aaliyah’s granny did not like dust, trouble or any animalwhose stomach touched the ground when it moved. Mostly, that meant snakes, but now that Keisha thought about it, she decided that alligators would also qualify.
    “Keisha, how are we going to win the Grand River Steppers Competition under-twelve category if you can’t keep track of your alligators? And by the way, how can an alligator run around Michigan? It’s way too cold here for alligators.”
    Aaliyah knew more about alligators than the average person because Keisha had asked her to read her alligator report for errors. Aaliyah did not forget the things she read. Aaliyah also