"And hold hands when you cross the street!" Camila shouted out the window, which made Lincoln and Nina, who were down on the sidewalk, look up and cringe. Their mother could just be so embarrassing sometimes…
However, knowing that their mother was watching, Lincoln seized Nina's hand and practically dragged her across the street. They smirked at each other, letting go as soon as they reached the sidewalk on the other side. Nina ran ahead of Lincoln, blowing raspberries at him over her shoulder as she did so. Lincoln shook his head and pretended that he had no idea who that immature eight year old was.
They met up with Usnavi and Sonny on the next block at the bodega, where Usnavi was holding little Sonny's hand dutifully, a bored look on his face. Sonny had a dirty and ratty-looking teddy bear in his other hand. He held it by the arm and its feet dragged on the ground.
"Sonny, you don't want your bear to get all dirty, do you?" Nina asked, bending down and helping Sonny get a better grip on his stuffed animal. "There you go."
"'S'not a bear," Sonny insisted. "S'a tiger."
"Oh," Nina straightened up, nodding her head. "Okay, Sonny." She stifled a laugh while Lincoln and Usnavi sniggered.
"Let's go," Usnavi said, letting go of Sonny's hand and heading off down the sidewalk. Lincoln took off at a trot to catch up and walk beside him, while Sonny turned a wide-eyed face up toward Nina, holding out his free hand. Nina took it and started walking after the two boys.
"Lincoln, Usnavi, wait up!" Nina called after them, for poor Sonny was practically jogging to keep up with her as she tried to catch up with them. Usnavi looked over his shoulder with a smile and a laugh on his lips and did not slow down. He nudged Lincoln, who turned and also smirked.
Nina scowled at the two boys, but decided not to mention that the crosswalk in front of them had the 'do not walk' light flashing and a large group of people waiting at the end of the sidewalk. Usnavi and Lincoln, not paying attention to where they were going, ran into the group, making Nina laugh.
"Hey, watch where you're going," a man turned around, looking angrily down at Usnavi and Lincoln. A couple others turned as well, laughing at the two young boys.
"Stupid college kids," Nina heard Usnavi mutter when she and Sonny caught up. Lincoln looked around them, noting that they seemed to have gotten into the middle of a group of college students. He elbowed Usnavi and pointed this out.
"Let's run across the crosswalk and lose them," Usnavi planned, making sure that Nina and Sonny had heard.
The 'walk' light started flashing and Lincoln seized Nina's and Usnavi's hands, dragging them along as he practically ran through the group. Nina tightened her grip on Sonny's hand, afraid she would lose him. The little boy was panting with the effort of keeping up with them.
"I los' tiger," Sonny wailed when they reached the other end of the crosswalk. He flung his arms around Nina's waist and she felt his tears on her shirt. She glared at Usnavi and Lincoln.
"It's because of you two pinheads that he lost his tiger," she said as she put a hand on Sonny's head, trying to comfort him. "Go find it."
"Is this the 'tiger'?"
The four of them turned as one to see a smiling college student holding out the ratty teddy bear. She smiled at them, bending down so she was at Sonny's eye level.
"Here you go," she offered it to him. He detached himself from Nina's waist and hugged the teddy tightly, smiling tearfully up at her.
"Thank you," Nina told the woman, as Lincoln and Usnavi seemed not to want to say anything. Rolling her eyes, she took Sonny's hand and set off walking again, saying, "Come on, pinheads."
(College))