The two lads lowered the sticks they had been using for swords to catch their breaths.
"Matthew, don't you see? He thinks I killed her, or did something that made it happen. It must be why he's sending me away. But I didn't do anything like that, I swear! Matthew, what am I going to do? I don't wanna leave."
The dark haired boy grimaced; he'd had to talk his friend out of many an overreaction before. "Blake, you're an idiot! I can't say I like it either, but you'll go; it's just a school. If he thought you killed her, he'd have Sergeant Ashby arrest you and send you to prison."
The boys continued walking down the road, kicking a rock between them. "Maybe I could run away and live off the land."
Now that made Lawson laugh! "You have trouble boiling an egg on a gas ring. And you've never paid a whit of attention to your mum or your dad in the garden or at the park to know what plants are poisonous or safe to eat! Besides," he added, "where'd you go?"
"I don't know," his worried friend shook his head, "The park, or," he snapped his fingers with a cheerful thought, "those fallen trees down near the lake – good places to hide there, and there's gotta be some fish or something I could catch."
"More likely you'd catch a cold." Matthew playfully shoved his friend's shoulder toward a turning in the road, "C'mon, you just turn in here toward my place for a while. You've run enough for today."