The only reason Adison saw it was because she was on the ground, looking for her earring.
Sand, rolling up out of the grate grain by grain, drifting across the sidewalk.
"Adison! Get in the car! The meeting's in five minutes." Her mother tapped her foot impatiently.
"My earring's down the grate."
"I'll get you another one. Adison . . . don't make me miss this conference."
In the street, horns blared. People hurried past, without stopping to notice the girl crawling around the sewer grate.
"Just another minute, Mom."
"Get. In. The. Car."
Adison was busy watching the sand waft into the air, swirling and glinting in the sun.
"Mom? Mom, look at this."
"We've wasted enough time already, Adison—!"
The sand churned in the air and Adison closed her eyes tightly. Her mother wasn't so lucky.
"Aghhh! Oh, just perfect. My mascara . . . my eyeliner . . . Adison, if you hadn't made us late this wouldn't have happened—who kicked that sand in my face? HEY! WHO KICKED THAT SAND IN MY FACE?"
Adison opened her eyes gingerly and saw a woman crouching on the sidewalk in front of her, wearing a thick fur coat. A fur coat in July.
"I LIVE!" the woman roared, rising to her feet and raising her arms in victory. She whipped around so quickly that her long, swinging hair struck Adison in the face. "You! Quickly! What's black, white, and red all over?"
"Uh . . ."
"Look here, young lady—was that you kicking sand in my face?" demanded Adison's mother. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself! I'm a lawyer, I'll have you know—and why are you wearing a fur coat at this time of year?"
"A . . . newspaper?" Adison asked cautiously.
"WRONG!" the fur coat woman shouted gleefully. "The answer is an embarrassed zebra!"
"Can we go now, Mom?"
"Oh, that's funny," said her mother, placing her hands on her hips. "A moment ago all you wanted to do was look for your earring."
"It went down a grate, Mom."
The fur coat woman's eyes suddenly grew wide and, without so much as a by your leave, she turned and galloped off down the sidewalk. She knocked down a hot dog cart along the way, bounding high into the air with great flaps of her coat. She really ran surprisingly quickly.
"YOU GET BACK HERE, I'M NOT FINISHED WITH—" Adison's mother cut off with a groan, checking her watch. "Oh, I'm late. I hope you're happy, Adison."
Just as she was reaching for the handle of the car door, two scruffy-looking boys ran past. One of them stopped at the car, sweat stains marking his bright orange T-shirt, and shouldered past Adison's mother into the driver's seat.
"HEY!" she cried. "Adison, stop him! STOP, THIEF!"
"These are awesome hot dogs!" cried the other boy—virtually the first boy's twin—from down the road.
The first boy slammed the door. Taxi horns blared. He began doing something to the steering wheel. The car shuddered and jerked, and then roared to life.
"I'm calling the police!" Adison's mother roared.
The other boy came running back, mustard in his hair and hot dogs spilling out of his arms. "Whoa! Awesome!" He opened the door and dove into the passenger's seat.
"HELLO, 9-1-1?" Still holding the phone to her ear, Adison's mother began kicking the car and yanking on the door handle with all her strength. Adison just stood there with her jaw dropping, too shocked to move.
The car took off down the street so quickly that it left an afterimage. It raced after the woman in the fur coat. Adison's mother, who had had her hand on the car, pitched forward. Adison darted forward and caught her before she could land in the oil puddle.
"Oh," said her mother, gasping. "Thank you."
The people on the sidewalk ignored the whole thing and kept walking.
Adison's mother, of course, missed her meeting. And Adison was late for her violin lesson that afternoon.
The next day, police found the stolen car parked on a roof on the other side of the city, with its hood covered in claw-marks. They also found Adison's missing earring in the glove compartment, beside a stale hot dog bun.
The mysterious ketchup-y fingerprints on the rear view mirror could not be traced to any known juvenile delinquents.
Thank you. This has been Travis and Connor Stoll versus the Sphinx, as seen through the eyes of Adison Yu, 16, and her mother Lena, 42.
