stack of cans of the same brand. The label on the bag suggested the food was “specifically designed to meet the nutritional demands of a dog” between 175-200 pounds.
“Big dog,” Leonhardt remarked.
“Maybe it ran off with the police dog.”
Leonhardt plucked his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.
“This is Detective Leonhardt. Animal Control came in to the Neville Houses shooting, maybe get a dog out of apartment 632? Can you double-check and call me back at this number? Thanks.”
Leonhardt hung up and sniffed the air.
“What is it?” Garza asked.
“If it had been locked up in here for any period of time, it probably would’ve relieved itself. I don’t smell anything.”
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t the clue that’s going to break the case, detective,” Garza snarked. “Want to keep looking around?”
“Yeah,” Leonhardt replied absently
He was trying to imagine how the diminutive Mrs. Fowler managed to go up and down the stairs every time her massive pet needed to use the yard without a single neighbor seeing her.
“In closing, the reason I admire Benjamin Franklin so much is because he invented so many things and was so smart and knew how to miti…miti…”
“Mitigate?” asked Mrs. Cosmatos.
“
Mitigate
the differences between so many different people. Thank you.”
As April took her seat, Becca did nothing to hide the rolling of her eyes. She took it for granted that the other students got help from their parents on their homework, but when it was an oral report? Well, it lessened her esteem for Mrs. Cosmatos that she let April by with such an obvious fraud.
“Becca Baldwin.”
Becca picked the handwritten page up from her desk, “A Historical Figure I Admire” written across the top, and headed for the front of the classroom. She looked down at April’s desk and, sure enough, her Ben Franklin report was typed and printed out. Easier to hide one’s accomplices that way, Becca thought, smug in her belief in April’s inability to write even a one-page report. There were two roads in to the Carver Academy. Your name was picked in a lottery for places. Or you knew somebody.
As April’s mom was not only head of the school’s parent-teacher association and tended to air-kiss and wave - and hug and flail and embrace and cry – upon running into any number of the administrators or faculty, Becca figured April for the latter category. Having been there the night her name was pulled out of a bingo cage, Becca knew where she stood.
“The historical figure I most admire is Gordon Parks. He was born in Kansas in 1912. He moved to New York during the Great Depression. He wanted to be a songwriter and sold some songs but none hit big. Then he became a photographer. This made him famous. He took many famous photos during the 1940s. He took pictures of women in dresses for
Vogue
magazine and news for
Life
magazine. He made friends with Malcolm X and was godfather to one of his kids. He then wrote a novel called
The Learning Tree
. It got famous. He then directed a movie out of it. After that, he made a famous movie called
Shaft
. He directed
Shaft
here in Harlem. He also wrote poetry. His son, Gordon Parks, Jr., made a movie in Harlem, too, called
Superfly
. His son died in a plane crash. The reason I admire Gordon Parks so much is because he never stopped doing new things and being good at them.”
Becca smiled.
Two grades ago, she’d been introduced to Parks when a teacher gave her
The Learning Tree
. This had led her to read one of Parks’s autobiographies,
A Choice of Weapons
. She didn’t think she could admire anyone more than she did Gordon Parks. The fact that he’d lived and worked in Harlem throughout his life only made it better.
It was then that Becca noticed no one else was smiling. Mrs. Cosmatos had a concerned expression on her face. The rest of the class had taken their lead from her.
“Becca, we have a fairly sincere honor policy in this classroom
“Big dog,” Leonhardt remarked.
“Maybe it ran off with the police dog.”
Leonhardt plucked his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.
“This is Detective Leonhardt. Animal Control came in to the Neville Houses shooting, maybe get a dog out of apartment 632? Can you double-check and call me back at this number? Thanks.”
Leonhardt hung up and sniffed the air.
“What is it?” Garza asked.
“If it had been locked up in here for any period of time, it probably would’ve relieved itself. I don’t smell anything.”
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t the clue that’s going to break the case, detective,” Garza snarked. “Want to keep looking around?”
“Yeah,” Leonhardt replied absently
He was trying to imagine how the diminutive Mrs. Fowler managed to go up and down the stairs every time her massive pet needed to use the yard without a single neighbor seeing her.
“In closing, the reason I admire Benjamin Franklin so much is because he invented so many things and was so smart and knew how to miti…miti…”
“Mitigate?” asked Mrs. Cosmatos.
“
Mitigate
the differences between so many different people. Thank you.”
As April took her seat, Becca did nothing to hide the rolling of her eyes. She took it for granted that the other students got help from their parents on their homework, but when it was an oral report? Well, it lessened her esteem for Mrs. Cosmatos that she let April by with such an obvious fraud.
“Becca Baldwin.”
Becca picked the handwritten page up from her desk, “A Historical Figure I Admire” written across the top, and headed for the front of the classroom. She looked down at April’s desk and, sure enough, her Ben Franklin report was typed and printed out. Easier to hide one’s accomplices that way, Becca thought, smug in her belief in April’s inability to write even a one-page report. There were two roads in to the Carver Academy. Your name was picked in a lottery for places. Or you knew somebody.
As April’s mom was not only head of the school’s parent-teacher association and tended to air-kiss and wave - and hug and flail and embrace and cry – upon running into any number of the administrators or faculty, Becca figured April for the latter category. Having been there the night her name was pulled out of a bingo cage, Becca knew where she stood.
“The historical figure I most admire is Gordon Parks. He was born in Kansas in 1912. He moved to New York during the Great Depression. He wanted to be a songwriter and sold some songs but none hit big. Then he became a photographer. This made him famous. He took many famous photos during the 1940s. He took pictures of women in dresses for
Vogue
magazine and news for
Life
magazine. He made friends with Malcolm X and was godfather to one of his kids. He then wrote a novel called
The Learning Tree
. It got famous. He then directed a movie out of it. After that, he made a famous movie called
Shaft
. He directed
Shaft
here in Harlem. He also wrote poetry. His son, Gordon Parks, Jr., made a movie in Harlem, too, called
Superfly
. His son died in a plane crash. The reason I admire Gordon Parks so much is because he never stopped doing new things and being good at them.”
Becca smiled.
Two grades ago, she’d been introduced to Parks when a teacher gave her
The Learning Tree
. This had led her to read one of Parks’s autobiographies,
A Choice of Weapons
. She didn’t think she could admire anyone more than she did Gordon Parks. The fact that he’d lived and worked in Harlem throughout his life only made it better.
It was then that Becca noticed no one else was smiling. Mrs. Cosmatos had a concerned expression on her face. The rest of the class had taken their lead from her.
“Becca, we have a fairly sincere honor policy in this classroom
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