Sam made it up the hill before Davy as the other policeman’s flashlight dimmed on him and he took off chasing after him. Davy went back down the hill and hid under the bridge. He took off his mask and his jacket. He stood back far enough that the policeman couldn’t see him. I was the only one whose head was turned in their direction.

            Everyone else was facing the policeman who was coming down our hill. The sound after laughter was supposed to make everyone smile but the boys were now frozen. I knew that Gary wanted to take off running but this was the spot

where his brother was supposed to pick us up. The policeman told us all to move to the center where he could see all of us. We all did except Davy, who stood in the very back and had slowly crept onto the side of the bridge.

            The other policeman, who was young with a pale, baby face and slick black hair that reminded me of a doo-wop singer I had seen on one of Grandma’s Christmas albums, came back with Sam in handcuffs. The lead policeman had a pockmarked face with light blue eyes, bushy eyebrows and blonde hair. He was crying and I looked at Billie. Her face showed no remorse. I winced, though; I felt bad for him. The other boys also had no expressions on their faces, just straight looks. The police man’s too-bright flashlight waved throughout the hills, the trees, the other bridge in back, though it did not land on Davy’s face and finally on all of us. 

            He took his time with his flashlight, pausing on each one of us. Sometimes, he yelled at us if we tried to look down. The light stayed on our faces until we thought we were going to go blind and then he moved to the next one. This was our punishment; it was sick and yet, we deserved it. His light finally landed on me. I was standing the closest to the hill; Billie was to the left of me.

            He whistled for the dark-haired policeman to come over to him. The other policeman pushed Sam into a group of tires. I thought I heard trees rustling behind me. Perhaps Davy got scared and decided to leave? I don’t know. All I know was that the other policeman went running behind us because as he yelled out, he thought he heard something moving in the trees but he came back a minute later, saying it was just a stray dog, looking for food. At least Davy was in