Jimmy, Cory, and Curtis are playing ball in the alley when they find a practically brand-new guitar in the trash. Curtis asks them where they got it from, and then asks again to make sure that it doesn’t belong to anyone. Then he starts teaching Cory and Jimmy how to play the guitar. Just when Cory is starting to get the hang of it, Jimmy glimpses Lawson coming toward them: “He was maybe twenty feet away now, and Jimmy saw, behind him, the parked police car, which was blocking the end of the alley” (212).

Curtis pushes the boys away and tells them to run. They all scramble under a fence, but Lawson catches Curtis, who goes through last, and pulls him back under. He then beats Curtis up for talking back. He accuses Curtis of being a thief, reminding him that he and other cops know he did the vandalism job at his school. Lawson beats him up a bit more, then leaves. Cory and Jimmy rush back, having watched the entire thing because they were too frightened to leave Curtis behind: “When he was gone, Cory and Jimmy scrambled out from behind the fence and ran over to where Curtis was lying” (214).