been available to fix whatever he damaged.
And he owned a motorcycle.
A very expensive motorcycle.
He rode it with the confidence of someone who had far less experience than he wanted people to believe.
All summer, the neighborhood tolerated him.
Not because anyone enjoyed it.
Because neighborhoods are complicated little social systems.
Sometimes people decide that confronting a problem will create more trouble than simply enduring it.
Dennis was wealthy, connected, and protective of his son.
Mrs. Patterson, who lived on the corner, once knocked on Dennis’s door after
