Crusader (57 page)

"You go ahead. You think. I'm not here to stop you."

I stared in rising confusion at that spot, the spot where the three of us had just stood.

It's funny. Ever since Stephen Cross asked me to pray with him, and I refused, I have had the urge to do just that. But I don't know how. The best I can do is think about things, really hard. That's what I call praying. So that's what I did.

I looked out the window onto the Strip, and I prayed like this: I thought hard about all the kids who were gone—about the ones who didn't make it, and about the ones who weren't going to make it. I thought about the Brazilian street kids who left their
favelas.
I thought about the American street kids who left their broken homes. I thought about Hawg and his Arkansas T-shirt. I thought about the girl sold into white slavery, and about the one behind the Dumpster, with the Tweetie Bird tattoo. I wished them all well. I wished they could find their way, somehow, out of the void.

When I was finished praying, I checked up and down the Strip again for my two street kids. They were still nowhere to be seen. I thought for a moment, really hard, about them. I envisioned them sitting down to a big Thanksgiving dinner. I envisioned them trying, and then finding, something in their lives to be thankful for.

Then I looked back at the site of the old Family Arcade. I stared at the Dr. Seuss memorial for a long, long moment. It looked cheerful sitting there, a cheerful package on a gray sidewalk. Once I was certain that I would never, ever forget what it looked like, I turned my head away. I would not be turning back. I put on the left signal, checked the mirror, and pulled out onto the empty morning highway.

1. How are the "muckraking" journalists Roberta learns about in school different from journalists like Angela del Fuego?

2. Why doesn't Roberta tell Griffin that she saw Ironman and Hawg with red spray paint? What would you have done if you were in her position?

3. In the beginning of the book, Roberta is sort of a doormat—she works for free, puts up with her father's negligence without complaint, and does Suzie's insulting "Before and After" promotion at the mall. Name some times when Roberta actually stands up for herself.

4. Many characters in the story feel guilty about some of their actions. For example, Griffin feels guilty for apprehending Hawg, and Uncle Frank feels guilty about what he did to Sam's property. How do these characters—and others in the story—deal with their guilt?

5. How do Nina and Kristin grow apart? How are they different from each other at the end of the story?

6. Many times in this story, adults make the wrong choices, and the kids are left to protect one another. Name some times when this happens.

7. Why does Roberta defend and cover for her father even when it means sacrificing her own comfort?

8. What does Mrs. Weiss provide that the other adults in Roberta's life do not? What does Roberta learn from Mrs. Weiss?