The Midnight War of Mateo Martinez

The Midnight War of Mateo Martinez — page 5

The Midnight War of Mateo Martinez — page 6 — 1 The Crime Nobody believed me when I said two skunks stole my old trike But I’d seen those stinkers take it Swear The night of the stolen trike my mom made me come home after I had dinner with my best friend Ashwin cause we had school the next day Ashwin always dares me to see who can drink the most of his mom’s chai and I always win so I was on my way back from the bathroom in the middle of the night Waking up to pee three times is a small price to pay for victory That’s what I think anyway even if my mom doesn’t agree I checked the window and everything seemed okay at first I snuck a peek at my brand new silver-and-blue bike Mom and Dad gave it to me in October when I turned nine I call it Steed You know like a knight’s shining steed Our house is on this tiny one-block street in Santa 1

The Midnight War of Mateo Martinez — page 7 — Barbara Caballero Road Caballero actually means knight in Spanish I don’t speak Spanish but my dad does Well to me that street name has always been a sign that I was supposed to be a knight Like for real If your home is a castle and my house totally is then the driveway is a drawbridge The sidewalk’s a moat My bedroom’s even like a watchtower I have a win dow right over the driveway with a view straight out to Caballero Road It’s my job to keep a lookout and that’s what I was doing the first time I saw the skunks Seeing Steed out there made me smile even though I was sleepy but then I heard this weird creak and leaned a little closer to my window I squinted up and down the driveway checking everything out Something was missing from the dark jumble of stuff by the garage and I was pretty sure what it was My rusty old trike doesn’t shine in the dark anymore like Steed does but the right back-wheel has this creak and I definitely heard that I don’t ride the trike or anything but my little sister Mila does And I always have to make sure she puts the trike back where it’s supposed to be That night the trike should have been where I used to park it when I was a little kid It shouldn’t have been out on the corner or sideways in the dirt and it definitely shouldn’t have been rolling down the driveway But it was My breath was making the glass all foggy I rubbed it away so I could see better and at first I thought the trike 2

The Midnight War of Mateo Martinez — page 8 — was rolling by itself I don’t know like being pushed by the wind But when the driveway light clicked on I saw them Two little black-and-white skunks one on each pedal holding onto the handlebars with their tails high in the air One skunk went up the other went down Up-down up-down up-down right out onto the sidewalk When they got to the street the skunk on the right pulled hard on the handlebar and they wobbled around the corner That’s weird I said leaning so close my nose touched the glass I waited for a few minutes but nothing else hap pened Staring into the dark to see if the skunks would come back my head felt all fuzzy My eyes went all blinky I flopped onto my bed kicking at the covers thinking Two skunks can’t steal a trike No way I kept popping up onto my elbows to peek out the window but pretty soon my head was too sleep-fogged to even look I jerked awake a couple times and wiped some drool off my cheek But I never heard that rusty creak again Did I fail in my solemn duty as a watchman as a knight What was I supposed to do raise an alarm Even half asleep I guess I knew nobody would believe me I knew what Mom and Dad would say And after a while even I thought those skunks had to be a dream But they weren’t 3

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