One Summer morning, an animal's raspy bark swiveled eight-year old Yang on the spot while straining her ears.

Other children her age dropped what they were doing, too. "What was that?"

Their section of the park, a sandlot tucked to one side, used to be the diamond of a ball field, but age and neglect had worn its edges. Rust painted the links of a cage perimeter that circled behind one corner.

A few trash cans dotted the surroundings.

The entrances of bathroom stalls led into both sides of a picnic shelter.

The gang had stored their bikes at a nearby rack.

Older kids used the park, as well.

All manner of plant-life grew here including wild flowers, unkempt bushes, and patch oaks.

Nothing seemed out of place except themselves.

A metal rim in the distance clashed and rang upon stone.

"That way!" Yang bolted toward a street that separated the park in half.

The same sort of hoarse yaps led her in front of her friends, kicking up dirt in her frenzy until she crossed onto dewy grass. They followed, but no one quite kept up with her.

Long before she reached the source of the noises, they were silenced.

She recognized what animal made those sounds, because they often squabbled around her house.

After dark, raccoons tested the big blue trashcan when it smelled of multiple days-worth of garbage, until their competition to scrounge the best fixings brought out the worst of their attitudes.

Raccoons snarled to defend food they'd claimed, but more often they fled from each other.

However, trapped or threatened, a frightened animal made unholier racket than anything else around home.

Yang skidded to the main road's curb where the aluminum lid of a public trashbin lay overturned. Days-old fruit peels and greasy brown bags of fast food combined their odors. Flies zipped around her while she replaced the cover. "Did anyone see what was going on?"

Her friends scanned the area: six kids around the same age, a variety of skin colors and heights, but all of them wiry. They wore sports shorts, ratty and frayed tops, with sneakers that should've been replaced months ago. They were outdoor hooligans who put on the gnarliest things without caring how dirty they got by day's end.

One of them, a tomboy named Sable with a dark tail sticking out from the back of her hair, bounced her kickball against the street. "We can split up, if you think we should keep looking."

Yang worked her mouth over what she was about to say, but shook her head, instead. "Is anyone there?" she called out to her surroundings.

"Yang!" One of the boys pointed under a parade of bushes taller than any of them. The shrubbery's unruly outline obscured their insides except for three pairs of tiny medallions, all crouching close to the dirt.

Raccoon pups shivered in the shadows. Their claws were the size of nail clippings and their fur looked smoky-colored, since they hadn't yet developed their full coats. They chittered for their mom, but no one came, except Yang.

"Hey, babies." She brought one out, handed it to Sable, then gathered the other two. Distress shook her voice. "Where's your mom?" Even though she was asking the pups and didn't expect an answer, she'd caught her friend's gaze while sharing their suspicions in silence.

The others sucked in gasps, put their hands on their heads, or covered their mouths. One way or another, they let out their stunned realizations while discussing what they had to do next.

"Oh my gods, like, what can we do to help them?"

"If this was a movie, we'd think of a clever plot device."

"Like scraping enough money together to buy them some food!"

"We could take stuff from the trashcan."

"What kinda solution is that, Roger? You wanna chew up some garbage so a baby can eat it?"

"It's what raccoons eat, don't they?"

"They're babies, you idiot. They eat baby food."

"This is our chance to build some character. How do we start?"

Everyone faced Yang and Sable, and the gold one straightened tallest. "Listen up! Play-time's over. We need a few things to rescue these guys. Linus, start with a shoe box or some sort of pet crate. I need blankets. A towel will work if that's all you have. Candy, get some of your brother's baby bottles, clean ones this time, with a little bit of milk. Not too much. We don't want to gorge them. Roger and Midni, form a perimeter around this park. If you see a raccoon, turn it back this way, but don't scare it. Use your scrolls to keep in touch."

All four of the kids with directions undid their bike locks and moved their rides onto the street.

Linus and Candy pedaled away on a mission. Both of them lived a block away in different directions, but the point was how reliable were the distances to their houses. They'd be back sooner than anyone else.

Midni checked her scroll's contacts and called Roger. "This is exciting! What are you gonna do?" she asked Yang.

Sable cut in. "We'll protect them. Something happened to their mom. That means it's up to us to look out for them."

Roger answered his scroll. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I'm right here." Midni put their call on speaker mode and dropped the device into a basket hanging from her handlebars.

"Hearing you loud and clear." Roger mounted his bike.

"It's because I'm standing right here, idiot."

"No, I meant the call is working." He wobbled on his way to the park's northern side. "Nevermind."

Midni waved at Yang and rode the opposite way. "I'll call you if I see something. Be careful! This only feels like the first act."

"What is she talking about?" asked Sable.

"Fourth wall stuff, probably." Yang led her friend to a wooden bench where they perched uncomfortably on the edge. "I can't believe it. This is real." In her doubt, she hunched forward. This wasn't a situation she'd ever foreseen. The urgency of how it began didn't give her any time to think, but she had to do something, since adrenaline took over her response.

She didn't know what would've happened if she'd done nothing. She could have ignored the noise, gone back to play, and the morning wouldn't have turned out this way.

Yang's raccoons churred, and their vibrations went up her arms.

The pups would've never crossed her mind. Instead, she had sprung to their rescue without a second thought and scattered her friends to the winds. She divided her gang, ended their fun morning — but she didn't realize it until she'd ordered everyone away.

Ten minutes or more had gone by without update. The two kids who lived nearby had to be coming back soon, but they were taking too long. They should've returned by then.

Sable dribbled her kickball with one hand while cupping her wee animal in the other. "You nervous?"

Yang bounced her legs. "I'm confused. How does something like this happen?" She rested into the bench's seat and cradled her trash pandas.

A boy's laughter made her into a tense stone. All of her fibers seized, until a rock the size of a walnut ricocheted off her skull.

Sable shouted when she pounced to her feet, but Yang tamed her when she next spoke, injected with fury. "Take these babies right now. If he did something, I'm gonna be so mad." Once her friend had all three rescues, Yang came around the bench with her fists tight. "Morning, Shell. What do you want?"

The boy sniffed and lifted his chin where he stood a few feet from the pups' hiding spot. "Poor things. I just want to know they're okay." He drawled every word with sarcastic emphasis, with venom that dripped off his voice.

He sauntered her way in off-white and brown trashy clothes, like he was part of her group. He'd bound his mangy hair in a bundle almost as big as hers, but thorns and a bramble stuck out from the top. He looked more like he'd dragged himself through wilderness instead of preparing himself to get dirty. Holes in his sleeveless shirt revealed skin and bones.

"What a coincidence you showed up at the same time and place." Yang blocked him from moving closer to the bench.

"Are you saying something?" He sneered with both hands on his hips.

"You took something from those raccoons, didn't you?"

"What in the world would I steal from a baby?"

"You took their mom." Yang shook from the crown of her head to her knuckles. Her voice trembled, but not out of fear.

"You better prove it, Yucky Yang."

She shoved him, but he caught his balance. She said, "It wouldn't be the first time you picked on someone smaller than you."

Sable said, "Beat him up!"

Shell pushed back and barked, "Prove it!" but she didn't budge.

She thrust into his chest. "Did you or didn't you?" She slammed him again in his ribs. "Answer me." She forced him backward. "Show me what you did!" Her final shove sprawled him into the bushes where she'd found her rescues, but the shrubs bounced him back to his feet with a couple extra twigs in his hair.

He put up his hands for her to stop.

"You jerk!" She knuckled between his eyes, her friend hooted, before an adult's confused bellow paralyzed them all in mid-action.