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often as he patiently taught Gideon how to repair automobiles. He believed in what he saw in Gideon. Russell, Ormond’s father, had not been so sure. But Ormond never gave up.
     

6
     
    S he was racing, racing, riding like the wind.
Here comes Kiki—Kiki the wonder girl!
With each push of her bike’s pedals, her elation rose. Mr. Miller, the man at the shop, said she could come back tomorrow! She’d showed him how good she was. He was probably heading home now to tell his wife and children what a fast worker she was. Kiki felt like celebrating. She knew Mari would be home soon and expecting her to be there, but there would be nothing wrong with going by the Piggly Wiggly first for a Coke. She felt the quarters in her pocket, grateful that she hadn’t lost these like she’d lost the ones last week. That had been embarrassing, standing at the drink machine with no coins. In despair, she’d let out a moan, then she’d given the base of the machine a few swift kicks. In the movies, it worked—drinks popped out like a jack-in-the-box. But that day nothing happened. Kiki wanted to cry, until a hand touched her shoulder, and there stood her neighbor, Mrs. Luva Smithfield. Mrs. Luva told her not to worry, she had money. A Coke had never tasted so good to Kiki as it had that day, and Mrs. Luva had even given her more quarters for another day.
     
    Today was that day. Kiki put three quarters into the beverage machine, selected a regular Coke, and waited. Mari always told her not to be impatient. With a sputter, out came a can. “Cheers!” she said as she lifted the drink to her lips. “Cheers to me!”
     
    Two boys coming out of the store laughed at her antics, but she didn’t care. Let them laugh. She doubted that they knew how to fix a bike like she did.
     
    When she was sure that the can was empty, she tossed it into the recycle bin, jumped onto her bike and with a few spins around the park, took the long way home. She wished it was already the next day so she could be at the auto shop working on bicycles and getting the attention of the others. They liked her! They were going to let her work there!
     
    But as she coasted her bike into the driveway, her elation over her moment of glory faded. She heard voices she recognized coming from next door in the backyard of Angie’s grandmother. Kiki eased off her bicycle, listening to the laughter coming from beyond the wooden fence that separated her house from Mrs. Luva Smithfield’s large bungalow. Kiki secured her bicycle inside the garage, grabbed Yoneko, and scampered through the back door. Sailing into her bedroom, she pushed back the curtains and stared out her window.
     
    The early October day was giving way to night, but in the shadows she saw them by the swing set beside the apple tree. She squinted to see Angie and two other girls from school. From her lone window, she watched them tumble with headstands and cartwheels into the soft grass. Their jackets and hair were dotted with leaves. She knew they were practicing for gym class. Everyone was supposed to be able to do a cartwheel and headstand tomorrow.
     
    With one hand on the blue-green curtains and the other holding her cat puppet, she watched their moves. Her heart wanted, wanted so much, to be with them, to be able to sail out of the house as quickly as she’d entered and cry, “Hey, guys! What are you doing?”
     
    But she knew too well what they were doing. They were having fun—without her.
     
    Their laughter and squeals filled the evening air. Why didn’t they want her? She could laugh. She even knew how to flutter her eyelashes the way the women did on her favorite TV show,
Gilligan’s Island.
She had a tube of lipstick, one she’d taken from Mama. But no, none of that mattered. Angie called her a baby, right to her face.
     
    Even when she heard Mari call out that she was home, Kiki stayed by the window. In a moment, another figure came to the grassy backyard from inside the bungalow.