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rags? You got any money?”

Silence.
What you Think?ou Think?
“We don’t want to have to come in and hurt you, old man, What y
but we don’t mind if we have to.” Where was Greg
following Lemon
Lemon Brown squeezed Greg’s hand in his own hard, Brown?
gnarled fist. There was a banging downstairs and a light
as the men entered.

They banged around noisily, calling for the rag man.
“We heard you talking about your treasure.” The voice was slurred. “We just want to

see it, that’s all.”

“You sure he’s here?” One voice seemed to come from the room with the sofa.
“Yeah, he stays here every night.”

“There’s another room over there; I’m going to take a look. You got that flashlight?”
“Yeah, here, take the pipe too.”

Greg opened his mouth to quiet the sound of his breath as he sucked it in uneasily. A

beam of light hit the wall a few feet opposite him, then went out.
“Ain’t nobody in that room,” a voice said. “You think he gone or something?”

“I don’t know,” came the answer. “All I know is that I heard him talking about some

kind of treasure. You know they found that shopping bag lady with that load of money
in her bags.”

“Yeah. You think he’s upstairs?”

“HEY, OLD MAN, ARE YOU UP THERE?” Silence.

“Watch my back. I’m going up.”

There was a footstep on the stairs, and the beam from the flashlight danced crazily along
the peeling wallpaper. Greg held his breath. There was another step and a loud crashing
noise as the man banged the pipe against the wooden banister. Greg could feel his
temples throb as the man slowly neared them. Greg thought about the pipe, wondering
what he would do when the man reached them—what he could do.

Then Lemon Brown released his hand and moved toward the top of the stairs. Greg

looked around and saw stairs going up to the next floor. He tried waving to Lemon
Brown, hoping the old man would see him in the dim light and follow him to the next
floor. Maybe, Greg thought, the man wouldn’t follow them up there. Suddenly, though,
Lemon Brown stood at the top of the stairs, both arms raised high above his head.

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