The Camaro Murders by Ian Lewis

ribbon…why would Ezra Mendelssohn have a pink ribbon? Pink ribbons are for girls. Starla wore her pink ribbon the day we went into the woods. Starla…
    â€œWhat’re you doing, boy?” It’s Ezra standing behind me. There are brown blotches on his head and saggy skin under his eyes.
    â€œNothing,” I say. I didn’t hear him coming up the steps. The ribbon is still in my hand and I feel like I’ve been caught doing something I shouldn’t.
    Ezra looks at my hand and says, “Why don’t you give that to me.”
    My mouth won’t move even though I think I should say sorry. I hand the ribbon to Ezra without looking at him.
    â€œIt’s not polite to be snoopin’ around other people’s houses,” he says.
    I’m afraid he’ll tell my dad I wasn’t minding my manners. “I’m sorry,” I say, mumbling.
    Ezra doesn’t say anything else so I walk past him and down the stairs. I can feel him staring at me the whole way. There’s a lump in my throat like I’m going to cry, and I don’t want to be here anymore.
    Everyone is done eating when I get back to the dining room. It feels really hot, and the skin on my back is tingling. I must look like something is wrong because Mom asks what the matter is.
    I don’t know what to tell her because I don’t know what to think. Was that Starla’s ribbon? It couldn’t be, could it? Why would Ezra Mendelssohn have Starla’s ribbon? What if…what if
he
took her? Ezra. Ezra Mendelssohn took Starla. No, that’s not true.
    The lump in my throat squeezes tighter. I feel like I’m having a bad dream and that everything isn’t real. Should I tell Mom? How would I say it? Ezra has her ribbon. Doesn’t that prove it?
    â€œCulver,” Dad says. “Mr. Witherspoon is taking the boys on a hay ride on the tractor. Do you want to go?”
    â€œNo,” I say. My voice sounds small. I sit down in an open chair next to Mom instead.
    She puts her hand on my back and rubs it a few times while she talks to some of the ladies at the table.
    Ezra steps into the room and sits down at the other end. He stares at me but doesn’t say anything.
    I look away and try to sit further back in my chair, but he can still see me.
    A few of the ladies start to get up.
    Mom turns to me and says, “Honey, I have to help clean up in the kitchen, okay?”
    I nod and watch her leave. Dad is already in the front room with the other men, and I don’t want to stay in the dining room with Ezra. So I go to the back room to watch Ted, Jim, and Joey from the window.
    The three of them climb on the back of the wagon and Mr. Witherspoon starts the tractor with a jerk. They’re all smiling and having fun, and soon they disappear heading toward the back of the property.
    I can’t have fun right now. I just want to leave. Could Ezra have taken Starla? I’m scared if he did. My parents won’t know about it. Nobody will.
    There’s a couch across from the window. I sit down on it, and it’s lumpy. This whole house makes me afraid. I’m not used to the way it smells or anything in it. Hopefully my parents won’t want to stay much longer.
    I’m alone for a few minutes before Ezra is standing in the door. I turn to watch him come into the room and sit down in a wooden chair next to the window.
    He doesn’t say anything; he only looks at me. The sun is going down, and it shows the fuzz on the top of his head. His little mouth is like a bump with a line drawn in it.
    I want to look away but there’s nothing else to look at. I can’t pretend to look out the window because I’ll just see him, hunched over and not moving.
    Ezra’s eyes never move away. They’re so mean like they hate what they see.
    I feel a hot tear roll down my cheek. Should I run? What would I say to Mom and Dad? What would Ezra say? Does he know what I’m