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Razi blew the air out through his nose. He didn’t like to be interrupted. “My hands to larger service and my health to better living for my …” Razi put up three fingers on one hand and one on the other. He studied his hands, waiting for the answer to come to him. “Three
C
s and a
W
. Key?”

Brrrng, brrrng
. A bicyclist swung around them and called out, “Passing on your right.”

“My club, my community, my country and my world.”

“Razi, that’s perfect!” Keisha hugged him. “Say it just like that, okay?”

Razi bowed to the east and bowed to the west. “Okay, Key. I will.”

They took each other’s hands again and kept walking.

“Do you think Bob will wear his blue shirt tonight?” Grandma wondered out loud.

“Yes!” Razi shouted. He was still excited that he’d gotten the pledge right.

Grandma had a special interest in Big Bob, which Keisha
knew
, for a fact, because Grandma told her so as they sat on the porch looking at fireflies a few nights ago. Big Bob was Grandma’s special some—

“Well, what do you think, Keisha?”

“I don’t know,” Keisha said. “I think he wore it last Saturday.”

“He knows I like it,” Grandma said. Grandma was talking and walking, but she had stopped seeing what was in front of her. Keisha had to tug her arm to keep her from running into a couple walking the other way.

“Aren’t they sweet?” Grandma said. “I wonder how they met.”

Then Grandma gave a big sigh and put her free hand against her cheek. They came to the last cross street before arriving at the center.

Grandma took hold of Keisha’s shoulders. “Do you like these shoes with this dress?” she asked. “Now I’m not sure.”

“Grandma!” Keisha said. “Look into my eyes. You. Are. Style.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” Grandma pinched her cheeks to make them rosy as apples. “Let’s go get Razi inducted.”

As they proceeded up the steps, Wen ran down to greet them. She was in one of the dresses her grandma Nei-Nei had sewed for her. It had a big bow in the back, and the ends of the bow fluttered around Wen as she ran toward them.

“You look like a kite,” Razi told Wen.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you, Razi. The box kite came! From my grandpa’s family in China. Mr. Sanders delivered it today!”

“Ooh, can we go fly it, Grandma?” One of Razi’s favorite things to do in the park was fly kites with Wen.

“Not now,” Grandma said, smoothing her hands down the front of her dress. “Heavens to Betsey Johnson, Razi. Let’s get your priorities straight. Bob is waiting in there.”

Wen and the Carters were the first to arrive, but it didn’t take long until everyone was there: Aaliyah, Jorge, Marcus, Zack, Zeke and a dozen other kids. Animals were very popular as a club choice this year. Mama scooped up baby Carmelo as soon as she saw Jorge and took him to the back where Daddy had baby Paulo. They were soon joined by Mr. Sanders, who had told Razi that morning at breakfast that he always liked to be present when his colleagues were in special ceremonies.

“What’s a colleague?” Razi wanted to know.

“People who work together,” Mr. Sanders said. “I deliver the mail and you take it in the house.”

“Oh. Can we get ice cream after at Jersey Junction? Can we?”

Razi knew that Mr. Sanders
loved
Jersey Junction.

As soon as everyone was settled, they recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Big Bob said, “The next order of business for our 4-H Wild 4-Ever Club is to recite the 4-H Pledge. But tonight we are inducting a new member into Wild 4-Ever, so first we’ll do our activity—building nest platforms for next spring—then we’ll have the business portion of the meeting, and we’ll conclude by having Razi recite the pledge at his induction.”

Razi stood up, his arms straight as arrows at his sides. “I pledge my head—”

“Not yet!” Keisha whispered, pulling him back down by his belt. Everyone giggled.

Fortunately, the next part of the meeting was the activity—building a nesting cone for mourning doves—and Razi helped Big Bob draw circles on the hardware mesh. The older kids got to cut out the circles with special wire-cutting scissors. After they did that, they cut out a pie-wedge-shaped piece so they could bend the mesh into a cone. Then they had to put
electrical tape all around the sharp parts so the birds wouldn’t get scratched.

Mourning doves were good at cooing, but they were not good at building nests. Their nests broke a lot. The children could take the cones home and put them in a good hiding place—a tree or a bush—six feet above the ground. That would help the mama’s nest stay together.

As soon as the cones were stacked by the door and all the cleanup was done, Big Bob began the business portion of the meeting. Razi tried to stay still and quiet. He was sitting in one of the chairs, Keisha was next and Grandma was on the other side. This part of the meeting never lasted long. Keisha did spider fingers on Razi’s back to help him stay still, then she let him play with his clip-on tie. After that, he made the church and the steeple with his fingers.

But enough was enough for Razi. During new business, he started waving his hand madly in the air. It looked like he was swatting at a bee or something. “Oh! Oh!” he said.

“Razi?” Big Bob pointed to him.

“I have a question,” Razi said.

“Is it new business?” Big Bob asked.

“I think so,” Razi said.

“Okay. Go.”

“Why do pigs have such big noses and such little eyes?” Razi asked.

There was a big silence and a little look that passed between Grandma and Keisha. Keisha scooched one inch closer to Grandma and one inch farther away from Razi. Did he have to ask
every
question that came into his mind?

“I’m sorry, Razi. Help me understand how that connects to our subject tonight. Weren’t we talking about birds?”

Another long silence. Razi looked around. He seemed, all of a sudden, miserable.

“Are you saying you want to put pig noses on our next agenda?” Bob asked.

“I think I know,” Jorge said.

Everyone turned to look at Jorge.

Jorge
never
said anything. At least not that Keisha could remember. Jorge was the quietest, Wen was the second quietest and she was the third quietest in Wild 4-Ever.

“It’s like birds have big beaks … like crows, and little eyes. Why is that?”

“Yes!” Razi said. “Why is that, Big Bob?”

“Well,” Big Bob said. “I don’t know. Alice. Do you have any suggestions?”

Grandma Alice saw that everyone was now looking at her. She sat up straight.

“Crows,” she said, after thinking about it for a minute. She stopped. Then she started again. “Like other birds with big beaks, crows take advantage of the largeness … of their mouthparts to eat large things … dead things … such as those things found on the side of the road.”

“That is disgusting,” Aaliyah said. And she gave her “eeww” look.

“While it may be disgusting,” Grandma replied, “it is opportunistic and therefore increases survival rates.
Nature, Miss Aaliyah, doesn’t give a rattlesnake’s rear end whether you think it’s disgusting or not. It is what it is.”

“Thank you, Alice.” Grandma and Big Bob gazed into each other’s eyes for a long time. “We are all smarter because of you.”

Jorge raised his hand to ask when they were going to have the ceremony. “I have some things I want to ask Razi about animals,” Jorge said. “But I’m not sure it’s legal until he’s a member.”

Razi stood once again with his straight-arrow arms and everyone knew: this was his big moment. “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty,
my hands to larger service and my health to better living.…”

Everyone held their breath.

Razi looked around wide-eyed. “For my club, my communitymyworldandmycountry,” he finished.

“Hurrah!” Mr. Sanders shouted. And even though Razi put the
W
right in the middle of the three
C
s, he got a standing ovation anyway.

Big Bob hurried things up to the end of the program, probably so he could spend more time with Grandma over refreshments, which, Keisha had to admit, had gotten a lot sweeter since their crush. Tonight it was cinnamon twists and apple tarts.

During refreshments, Razi got hugs and kisses and handshakes and claps on the back. He walked around on his tiptoes a lot.

Jorge told Razi, “You did a good job. I can never remember the ‘hands to larger service’ part. I don’t know why. I guess I just don’t want to give my hands to anybody. It seems weird.”

“Me too,” Razi said, pushing his shoulder into Jorge’s shoulder as he bit down on his cinnamon twist.

Keisha let her shoulders relax. “Razi-Roo, I’m proud of you,” she whispered.

“You’re a poet and you didn’t know it,” Razi whispered back.

“Carters’ Urban Rescue!” Razi shouted into the phone on Monday morning. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to answer the business line, but this morning he’d asked Mama, since he was now an official member of Wild 4-Ever, if he could and she’d said, “We’ll see.”

But Mama’s hands were wet, Grandma was upstairs wiping off the lipstick she said was “too winter” and Keisha was wrestling Paulo into the stroller. Ever since he started pulling himself up and balancing, Paulo didn’t like to be put in the stroller unless he was tired. So he arched his back and Keisha had her hands full to keep from dropping him onto the kitchen floor.

“Yes, we have a skunk, too!” Razi was saying. “He lives in the forest now. Under the big tree. Uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh … Mama!” Razi held out the phone. “It’s for you!”

“I’m right here, Razi. Let him grip your fingers a little while, Ada. Grandma isn’t down yet, so we have some time.”

“Skunk tracks and cat tracks look alike, Mr. Peters. Can you see the toenails? … Well, they shouldn’t be that hard to see if you got a good print.… Skunks
cannot pull back their toenails, so they show right in the print.… All right, then. Can you see well enough to count the number of toes? … I understand. We will come by this morning. Mrs. Zadinkis invited me to come and pick some squash and beans for my pepper soup.… Thank you, I would love a tomato.”

Mama had a pot of red pepper soup going on the stove most mornings, even when it was hot outside. Red pepper soup was made out of tomatoes and peppers and chicken broth. Then Mama added whatever vegetables she had around. Red pepper soup was for guests as well as for family. Anyone could drop by and have a little around dinnertime. Mrs. Zadinkis liked to drop by when she was in the neighborhood, so she gave Mama lots of good things from her garden. That’s when Mama liked to say: it takes many raindrops to make the pond from which we drink.

Keisha was glad she hadn’t finished putting Paulo in the stroller because now she had to buckle him into the car seat in back. He was just as stubborn about being put in his car seat. But Mama had a way with him. It was a short trip to the community garden and soon they were driving on the old track that had become a service road for people to load and unload their equipment and produce.

Mama loved to honk. It was a habit she learned
growing up in Nigeria, where people greeted each other with their horns. So as she honked her greeting, heads popped up all over the garden and hands waved to them. Keisha marveled at how much things could change in a garden from one week to the next. She and Wen and Aaliyah often rode by the community garden on their bikes, and it seemed like, once it got hot, the plants grew a foot every time. By this time in August, you couldn’t even see the neighbors’ yards that backed up to the garden because the sunflowers and hollyhocks were so tall. Straight rows of bush beans, long yellow peppers and juicy ripe tomatoes filled the gardens. Squash leaves, like big fans, grew right out onto the service road.

“Careful, Mama,” Keisha said as they came close to squashing a basketball-sized watermelon that sat near the edge.

Mama pulled the truck over to the side and the children tumbled out.

Razi started to run in the direction of a big patch of daisies, but Mama caught his hand. “I need you with me.”

He skipped alongside Mama as she went to the message board near the big toolshed. The shed was the gathering place for all the gardeners because it had the tools, potting soil, wood chips, watering cans and other things that they needed.

In the summertime, gardeners were in the garden all the time, but in the fall, when no one was around, children sometimes messed with the shed. Last fall, they’d broken the lock and left the tools all over the ground. Someone threw a rock and shattered the window. Though the window was due to be fixed, Mama was tsking about the way the shed looked when her nose caught something in the air.

It seemed like everyone smelled it at the same time.

“That’s stinky garbage,” Razi said, plugging his nose.

“Mama?” Keisha caught up. “Skunk?”

Mama pursed her lips, thinking.

“How will we find Mr. Peters?” Keisha asked, trying to get her mind off the smell.

“The honking will spread the word.…” Mama sniffed again. “There is something about that smell.…” Mama touched her long fingers to her forehead, thinking.