Secret Sidewalk

Mr. Brooks

"They were doing it," Marcus said.

"Doing what?" asked Ben.

"It," said Marcus, "you know. What grownups do."

"Oh," Ben said. He thought a moment and then inquired, "you mean doing it like mom and Otto, or doing it like mom and Mr. Brooks?"

"Like mom and Otto," Marcus announced, "and Sugar was just standing there, dressed in a yellow three-piece suit with bright green running shoes and a little straw hat, what they used to call a boater, I think. He had his nose pressed up to the glass and in the office there was Mrs. Sweet and Manny on the couch."

"How do you know they were doing it like mom and Otto?" Ben wasn't satisfied.

"I saw that tattoo on her butt. I could only see it if, you know."

"OK," said Ben, placated.

"Sugar didn't so much as flinch and he was watching for awhile. Junior Bus was trying to distract him with a cup of coffee but Sugar didn't notice. Then Junior got out of the way when Mister Pete showed up. You should've seen him take off into the lot," Marcus said, smiling, "I never saw Junior Bus move so fast. Mister Pete was looking mean. He was not the same guy anymore. There were stories about what he'd done to cats, and one time to a squirrel he caught right in his fist. Squeezed that sucker flat. And he was bigger too, like he'd been working out, and next to Sugar he looked almost as big as Levantin next to you."

"Woah," Ben declared. "That's like really big"

"He put his hand on Sugar's shoulder and leaned down to whisper in his ear, but I could hear him saying that Sharad LeMaster wanted to see him. Now."

"Well, Sugar, he just turned around and nodded, and he started walking toward the door with Mister Pete behind him. He gave me a look and I swear inside his eyes it was the same as Rocky, just the same. Whatever he was, he wasn't the same old Sugar anymore. Both those guys, I mean. You think you know someone and then they're someone else."