“Jay!” 

The boy’s black- and silver-striped shoes stopped before taking him one more lap around the dining room table. 

“Go outside and give me a little time to work in peace,” his mother said. “You have a backyard to explore now.”

A smile spread over Jay’s round face, revealing deep dimples. Without a word, the eight-year-old made a quick u-turn, ran through the kitchen and out the back door. He stopped briefly on the step to look and listen. This—all of it—was his now. A brilliant red bird swooped through the branches of a large tree. A chipmunk chittered from above, scolding Jay for his intrusion. 

There was no lawn. The trees made too much shade for grass to grow, but Jay didn’t care. This was the first backyard he’d ever had in his eight years of life. Up to now, he had lived with his mother in a small apartment in the city. The only real contact he’d had with animals came from two trips to the zoo. Besides that, there was only Elmo, his Grandma’s cat. All Elmo seemed to know how to do was hiss at Jay whenever he came near. Dogs didn’t count, either. The people in the city who walked them always seemed to pull their pets away from Jay when they passed by. 

After scanning his new backyard, Jay’s brown eyes lit upon a rickety fence. A gray stone house stood a little ways beyond it. Long spindly vines that crept up one side of the house made it look creepy.

Jay jumped off the porch step and jogged to the pole fence. Small patches of whitewash clung to its weathered wood. He ran his hand over the top pole, but pulled it away quickly. “Ouch!” He lifted his hand close to his face. A long splinter jabbed into his pinkie. His brow furrowed as he pinched it out. 
“Gotcha!” he said in triumph. 

A loud “Ur-rup! Ur-rup!” turned his attention beyond his new neighbor’s house. With dimples slowly reappearing on his cheeks, he slipped through the fence and moved toward the sound. 

There were frogs nearby!

“Hey kid!” an old man grumbled as he appeared from behind the small house. Unruly red curls stuck out from beneath the man’s plain black baseball cap. 

The boy turned toward the man. “Hi!” he said in a cheery voice. 

“What’s your name?” the man demanded as he neared Jay. 

“I’m Jay. Me and my mom are new here. We’re your neighbors.” 

A growl rumbled from the old man’s throat. By now, he was just a few feet away and towering over the boy. When Jay’s clear blue eyes met the squinting gray ones of the man, the boy’s smile vanished. He stepped back, but the fence he had slid though only minutes earlier stopped him.

“What’s your name?” Jay asked in a small voice. 

“My name,” the voice crackled, “is Reed. Mister Reed to you. Now listen good. You don’t cross this fence over to my side and I won’t cross it to yours.”

Jay glanced backwards. He could see no other houses besides theirs in the wooded area. With a scrunched forehead, he turned back to his neighbor. “But I only came over here because I heard frogs. I love frogs.”

“Frogs are no reason to trespass on someone else’s property, kid,” Mr. Reed said, moving one step closer. “This fence is the property line between us. And I’m telling you right now,” he grabbed Jay under his arms, “don’t cross it again!” The man lifted the boy, but not quite high enough to clear his ankles from the unforgiving wood. Then he tossed the boy from his own property back to Jay’s.

The boy scrambled to his feet, but before he had the chance to turn and run, Mr. Reed bent down to his level and grouched, “Don’t let me see you on my land again. If I catch you, you’ll be sorry.” 

Jay raced back to his home, through the kitchen and dining room, and up to his new bedroom on the second floor. 

Though he hadn’t seen her, Jay hoped his mother heard him run up. He wanted her to rush into his room. He’d tell her all about the nasty neighbor he’d met and maybe even cry a little. Then she’d pull him close to her and gently stroke his hair. She’d say, “There, there, Sweetie.” Or, “Oh you poor boy.” Then, “Everything will be okay.”

But then he thought about the fence. If he told her what happened, she might say, “Jay, you know better than to cross a fence to someone else’s property.” Or, “Young man,” (he always knew he was in trouble when she called him that), “I don’t need you to make an enemy of our only neighbor, especially on the day we move in.” Or, “Really, Jay, what were you thinking?” 

In the end, he thought it best not to mention the meeting with Mr. Reed to his mother. 

Jay had a whole week before school started. On the first Monday in their new home, Jay’s mother waved good-bye to him and his babysitter as she pulled out of the driveway. Then Jay heard another car. It was Mr. Reed backing out of his own driveway. 

All that day, Jay sat on his front porch and waited to see when his neighbor would reappear. The longer he waited, the happier he grew. By 5:30, when Jay’s mother returned home, Mr. Reed was still not back. It wasn’t until just before supper that the man’s long blue car pulled back into the driveway.

That could only mean one thing. Mr. Reed would be gone every day for work. And as long as the man was away, it would be safe for Jay to crawl through the fence. He’d be careful not to disturb anything on Mr. Reed’s land. He just had to find out about those frogs!

For the next four days, Jay visited the frog pond behind Mr. Reed’s house. Catching frogs to see which one could jump the farthest was fun!

When school started the next Monday, Jay didn’t forget about the frogs—or about his cranky neighbor. 

“There’s a pond near my house,” he told his new friends one day at lunch, “and I go frog-catching almost every day.”

“Cool,” one of the boys said. “Can I go with you this weekend?”

“No,” Jay said, scrunching his face up as he shook his head. His shiny brown hair moved back and forth with the shaking. “I can’t go on weekends.”

“Why not?” another boy asked.

“’Cause I got this mean neighbor—Mr. Reed. He won’t let me go on his property where the pond is.”

“Mr. Reed? He the one with the crazy red hair?” a boy with freckles asked.

“Yeah,” Jay said, but he said like it was a question.

“He’s as wild as his hair. That’s what my brother says.”

“You know those frogs you been catching?” another boy asked. “Well, he doesn’t want you there because he wants them all for himself. He eats their legs!”

“Yeah. He eats other things, too,” a boy with crooked teeth and glasses said. “Like squirrels and rabbits. Who knows what else?”

“My friend’s dog disappeared one day and never came home,” a skinny boy added. “My brother thinks that crazy old man did something to it.”

His friend’s stories about Mr. Reed scared Jay a little. I’ll have to be really careful, he thought. I don’t want Mr. Reed to catch me. Who knows what he’d do? 

And Jay was careful. At least he thought so. But one day he found a paper weighted down by a rock under the apple tree. The rock also held another item in place. It was a candy wrapper that had fallen out of Jay’s pocket. 

“Kid, I told you once to stay off my property,” the note said. “This is my second warning. Do I have to call your mother—or the police? Keep away!”

For a whole week, Jay forced himself to stay on his own side of the fence. But it was hard. Mr. Reed’s property held amazing treasures. There, Jay found ferns that rolled open and looked like miniature fiddles. Large, juicy apples begged him to eat them. Deer and raccoon tracks crisscrossed through the woods. 

Jay’s own backyard was much smaller. All it had was a bunch of dumb rocks and exactly eight scraggy trees. They were no fun at all.

The next Monday after school, Jay decided to sneak through the fence again. This time, though, he was even more careful. 

On Tuesday, Jay discovered something wonderful. To reach it, he jogged around the pond and past the apple trees. Then he ran down a path in the woods. Thousands of orange, red, and yellow leaves carpeted the ground. The trail led to a high rock wall. There Jay found a huge hole leading to a cave. From his pocket, he pulled the mini flashlight he always carried with him. 

Inside, the cave was dark and spooky. Spiky stalagmites jutted from the floor. Drippy stalactites hung from the ceiling. Jay could hear the leathery beating of bat wings nearby. Nearby the traces of a fire, he found ancient colored bottles people had left. 

Jay had a new favorite place in the world.

One day, he stayed at the cave a little longer than usual. As he hurried home, he spotted Mr. Reed’s car. If only he could make it through the fence before Mr. Reed saw him! Five, four, only three more trees to pass, then he’d duck and…

Whoosh! Jay slid on a pile of slick and slimy leaves and fell. 

At first, he was only surprised. He had never slipped before. Why this time? Had the man booby-trapped his path? He didn’t know. But he did know that his ankle hurt. Badly. 

Then he heard something. There was a sharp crack, then a voice full of gravel and venom barking at him. “I warned you to stay off my property, kid!”

Jay tried to push himself up from the ground. But now his knee hurt, too. His neighbor had shot him!

“You stay right there where you are. I want to talk to you.”

I can’t get up, Jay realized. 

Was that a cackle? What was the old geezer up to now? A sudden gust of wind carried a terrible laugh. 

Then he heard another snapping clap. He couldn’t believe it. That crazy old man is still shooting, he thought. And he’s coming this way! 

Leaves were crackling and crumbling nearby. Twigs were breaking. The world around Jay was crunchy. Although he couldn’t hear it, he could feel his heart beating wildly inside his chest. Mr. Reed was coming after him. 

Jay began to cry. His ankle hurt. His knee ached. And he couldn’t get up. 

Huffing, Mr. Reed ran to Jay. “Are you okay?” he asked. 

“I… No. I hurt my ankle.” And you shot my knee, Jay thought. Only now he wasn’t so sure.

“All right,” the man said. “Let me help you up.” 

“I can’t. It hurts too much.”

The man squatted down. He slipped his arms around Jay and lifted. Then he started walking the long way around the fence. Jay sneaked a peek at his neighbor’s face. It didn’t look mean. Not like last time.

“Your name’s Jay. Is that right?”

“Yeah.”

Mr. Reed looked down at Jay’s face. “Why were you over on my side of the fence again, Jay?” He didn’t sound angry. More like curious.

“It was the cave.”

“The cave!” the man shook his head. “How did you even know about the cave?”

“I… I found it one day when I was exploring near the apple trees.”

“The apple trees! They’re way back there. How did you ever find them?”

“Well, after I caught a few frogs one day, I followed a deer trail to the apples.”

Mr. Reed stopped. They were only halfway down his driveway. Jay watched the man close his eyes and shake his head. His breath came out loud and heavy and long.

“I’m sorry,” Jay said in a small voice. 

The man looked down to meet the boy’s eyes. He said nothing.

“I’m really sorry,” Jay said. “At first I just wanted to play with the frogs. Then I discovered the apples. And the animal tracks. And then the cave. I know I shouldn’t have crossed the fence, but—”

“Let me tell you something you probably don’t know.” Mr. Reed started walking again. “Some years ago, a little girl and her brother lived in your house. One day they went swimming in my pond with no one to watch them. The girl almost drowned. Then, a couple years later, three teenage boys snuck into my cave. Their flashlight batteries went dead and they were lost inside, cold and without food, for two days. That’s why I didn’t want you on my property. I wanted to protect you. I probably should have told you all this in the first place. Fact is I’ve never been too good with kids. Especially ones who climb over my fence without asking permission.”

Jay’s face turned red. 

“I’ve never had kids of my own and don’t really know how to talk with them.”

Mr. Reed’s not a monster, Jay thought. And I bet I just landed on that big old thorn bush. That’s why my knee hurts. He didn’t shoot me.

“I’m sorry,” Jay repeated. He didn’t know what else to say.

“Guess you’ve apologized enough, Jay. What I’m thinking is that you owe me something for all this trouble.”

“What? What do you mean?” 

“Well now, Jay, you can’t just go around trespassing on a neighbor’s property and expect no consequences. It wouldn’t be right.”

“But—”

“I think you and I should go back into the cave together. Someone has to clean up all the junk people have left in there. We can do it after your ankle’s better. We’ll take plenty of flashlights and batteries. What do you think?”

Jay’s dimples came out of hiding. “I think that’s a great idea.”