Bennie barreled down the street, ignoring the pain in her feet. Sweat streaked her face. Her heart pounded hard. Her thighs pumped strong. She ran past a Burberrys, a Starbucks, a Kiehl’s. People on the sidewalk stopped talking, watching as she streaked past, driven by instinct. Her only thought was to escape. Police sirens blared in the distance, and she tore down the cross street, leaving Center City behind. She pounded past well-kept row houses to Lombard, then Bainbridge, Naudain, and beyond. The neighborhood changed, and the sidewalks emptied. The brick row houses became run-down, the parked cars broken down. Trash and garbage reeked in the heat. The sirens grew distant.
She took a left onto one of the narrow sidestreets, sprinting past boarded-up windows and lots strewn with rubble and glass. Her eyes swept right and left as she ran, looking for a place to hide. People could be calling 911 from the houses. She had to get off the street, fast. She spotted a corner tavern up ahead. It would do, for now. She slowed her pace to a fast walk, passing women drinking beer on a stoop. She had almost reached the tavern when she heard a shout.
“Yo, wait up, Al!” a woman called, from behind her.
Bennie kept walking.
“Hey, it’s me, Tiffany! Al! Alice!”
Alice? Bennie turned to see one of the women from the stoop hustling toward her, unsteady on Candies sandals.
“Yo, wait!” The woman reached Bennie, out of breath, and she had a sweet, almost deferential, manner. Her streaky brunette hair was cut in raggedy layers, and a fiery sunburn blanketed her turned-up nose. She had on a flowered camisole and shorts, and after she looked Bennie over, her small mouth formed a perfect circle of surprise. “Whoa, what the hell happened, Al? I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“I know, right?” Bennie decide to play it by ear. If Alice was pretending to be her, then she would pretend to be Alice.
“You get in a fight or somethin’? Why you runnin’ like that?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Caitlin’s been lookin’ for you. Kendra, too. Where you been?”
“Around.” Bennie couldn’t risk being on the street. “Hey, can I get a drink at your place?”
“Sure.” Tiffany beamed. “I’m right around the corner. Let’s bounce.”