Mazz silenced the crowd just by raising his hands. Talk about popular. He called Bones to the race line and said, “I’ll even let you say ‘ready, set, go.’”

I looked down at Bones’ feet and then at my own and realized we both were standing with only one shoe on. Mine was in the woods and Bones’ on the roof. It didn’t seem fair that he had to race the fastest kid in school with just one shoe.

But Bones, who was about ten feet from the starting line, didn’t move. He just stood there, looked at Mazz, and said, “Ready?”

The crowd went silent. The new kid was going to give the champion a head start. Mazz stopped Bones. You could hear the doubt in his voice as he said, “Hey, kid, get on the line.”

Bones kept going. “Set!”

That was when Mike Mazzarella got a look on his face like he had seen the biggest land shark ever—and it was about to chase him.

“Go!”

I remember thinking that Bones’ first two steps had just about got him tied with Mazz. Within another two steps, he was way ahead, and by then, the entire playground was cheering for Bones.

And all I could think was, he’s going to win . . . wearing just one shoe.

Challenge Question!

Page 81