The Christmas Clock and A Song For My Mother - Kat Martin Page 0,58
Ham had asked as the game came to a close.
“I’d love that.”
He stood up from the table and reached for her hand. “Okay, come on.”
Ham led her through the house, pausing long enough for Katie to tell her grandma where she was going and they headed down the street. Ham told her that a couple of his friends had built the tree house up in an old sycamore in an empty lot at the end of the block.
“It’s kind of our clubhouse, you know,” Ham said. “Just me and Ben and Freddie. But sometimes we let in visitors.”
“A clubhouse. I've never been in a clubhouse. It sounds really neat.”
They reached the base of the big, sprawling tree that seemed to soar up into the sky. Though the branches were still bare, even when Katie craned her neck, the top was too high to see. Instead, she spotted the enclosed wooden platform the boys had built in the hollow where the branches fanned out. A sign on the side that read Private Property, No Trespassing, marked the spot.
“Can I go up?” she asked.
“Sure. But I have to go first and let down the ladder.”
She stared back up at the tree. The trunk was bare, not even a branch for at least six feet. “How will you get up there?”
“It’s kind of tricky. I’ll show you.” Taking a little jump, Ham stuck his fingers into a hole she hadn't noticed in the trunk above his head. He pulled himself up and then found a toehold nearby. The path up the tree was well worn, she realized, as Ham found a handhold here and foothold there, scrambling like a monkey up to the first branch, then on up from there. Opening the makeshift wooden door, he scrambled inside and came back out holding on to a long rope ladder.
“Stand back so I can throw it down.”
Katie stepped out of the way but as she did, she collided with a boy who had walked up behind her.
“Sorry,” she said, her hand automatically raising to hold on to her pink knit cap.
“Look at this.” The kid spun her around toward a second boy standing a few feet away. “Wonder what it is? A girl or a boy?”
The ladder came hurling down. “Leave her alone, Willie! You, too, Milo.” Willie was pudgy and needed a haircut, his yellow T-shirt food-stained. Milo was skinny as a bone with a pushed-in face that made Rufus look handsome. Rufus barked as if he agreed.
Milo reached over and jerked off her pink knit cap. “It’s a boy,” he said, laughing.
“Nah,” said Willie, “just an ugly girl. What happened to your hair? Your mama shave it off?”
Ham appeared just then and jerked Willie away from her. “I told you to leave her alone. You and Milo get out of here or I swear you're going to regret it.”
“Ham's got a girlfriend,” the skinny boy chanted. “Ham's got a girlfriend.”
“Yeah, only his girlfriend looks more like a boy,” Willie said laughing.
Katie looked at Ham and her chest squeezed. He was the first real friend she'd made since she had been sick and now he would look at her the way the rest of the boys did. Her eyes filled with tears before she turned and started running back toward the house.
She might have kept going if she hadn't heard scuffling sounds behind her. A loud grunt and an oof! Then Rufus barked and Katie stopped and turned just in time to see Ham punch Willie in the nose. Blood spurted out and Milo screamed as Ham spun him around and threatened to hit him, too.
“Get out of here!” Ham demanded, his hands still clenched into fists.
“You'll be sorry you did that,” Willie sniveled, wiping away the blood streaming out of his nose. “My dad's the mayor. You can't hit me and get away with it!”
“Yeah!” Milo said. “Mayor Sanders will have you arrested.”
Katie stood frozen as both boys turned and started running. Ham leaned down and picked up her knit cap, walked over, and handed it back to her. The tears in her eyes spilled onto her cheeks. Katie dashed them away with her fingers.
“You shouldn't have done that,'' she said. “You're going to be in so much trouble.''
Ham blew out a breath. “Yeah, my dad's really gonna be mad.''
She pulled the cap back on her head, covering her shiny skin. “None of my other friends would have stuck up for me like that.''