All the kids in the neighborhood said that Gina was a whore.  They said that she was caught giving a bj to a guy behing the bowling alley.  I didn't know Gina and I didn't know what a bj was.  I was 10 years old.  

I was living for a while in a foster home near the Pelham area of the Bronx.  My foster family was Italian.  There was my foster mother, Theresa and her ex-cop of a husband they called, "Sonny".  This was probably short for Salvatore.  I had a foster siblings who were the children of my foster parents.  There was Anne-Marie, Theresa, and Angelo.  

My foster sister, Theresa dared me to go on the roof of Gina's garage.  Theresa said if I did this then she would hang out with me.  

It was early June.  I was out of school.  My social worker said that my grades were so good that I didn't have to finish the grade and I would be promoted.  I had a lot of time on my hands until everyone else was out of school.  I didn't want to spend the entire summer without any friends.  I had to get on top of the roof.

I had on my sneakers.  I knew I would be able to get up there and down without being heard or seen.  There was a group of kids that hung out from the neighborhood.  Gina was never a part of the hanging out.  The kids said terrible things about her.  I had seen her a few times.  She didn't look like a whore.  If she had given that guy a 'bj' it was probably cause she had to.  I tried to look up 'bj' in the dictionary but I couldn't find any explaination.  I wish someone would tell me what it was.

The houses on the block were next to one another with enough room to drive a car between them and into the garage behind the house.  Most people just parked on the streets and used the garages for other things.

Everyone was either at work or at school.  I walked up the block like I owned it.  My sneakers didn't make a sound.  I wasn't afraid.  I wasn't going to get caught.  Gina lived about half way up the block.

I walked between her parents' house and their neighbor.  I walked up to the garage and walked to the side of it.  Huge grape vines climbed up the side of the garage.  They looked arthritic with their twists and gnarled joints.  i could see an old latticing attached to the wall of the garage under the green leaves.  I climbed up like the silent cat that I was.  I was up on the roof in a split second.

The view was nice from the roof.  I could see the house behind Gina's.  I could see down the block on either side.  I sat down on the roof of her garage.

"WHO IS UP THERE?"  I heard someone yell.  I peered down over the roof of the garage.  I could feel the heat from the sun on my back.  Sweat trickled down my back.  My heart was beating so loud my hears felt as if they were going to explode.  

There stood Gna.  Her hands were on her hips.  Her legs were apart.  She looked ready for battle.  Our eyes locked.  Maybe if I didn't say anything she would forget I was there.  No such luck.  

"Well, who are you and what are you doing u there?"
"Did you get caught giving a bj to a guy behind the bowling alley?"

Her face turned so red I thought she was going to self combust.  

"What are you talking about?"
"I was told you got caught giving a bj.  I don't know what a bj is or how one gets caught at it.  Is that why no one hangs out with you?"
"You need to come down from there."
"Not until you tell me what a bj is."

Gina sighed a huge nearly adult sized sigh.  She was pretty. Sixteen years old, curvy body and really bad acne where her dark curly hair touched the sides of her face.  She had a heart shaped face with a cupid bow shaped mouth.  Her eyes were heavily made up with lots of mascara.  

"Come down from my parents' roof."
"I can't.  I am gonna get in trouble and I have to stay here forever.  My foster parents won't like that I got in trouble and I will have to go to jail."
"You aren't going to jail.  Come down and we will talk."
"How do I know I can trust you""
"I am going in the house to get you some cookies.  When I come back you need to be off the roof."

She walked away and I decided that cookies sounded like a good idea.  I climbed down the way I had gone up.  I felt a lot less like a cat and more like an ass.

When I reached the ground Gina was standing there with cookies in a paper towel.  She handed them to me and pushed me toward the back steps of her house.  We sat in silence while I slowly ate one cookie.

"I got caught kissing my boyfriend behind the bowling alley.  I was only kissing him.  We got caught by the manager and somoeonw started a rumor about me.  My boyfriend broke up with me and no one asked ME what happened."
"What is a 'bj'?"
"That doesn't matter."
"So are you going to come hang out with us?"
"I don't think that's a good idea."
"If you didn't do anything wrong then you should come hang out."
"Just like that?"
"Yeah."

Later that afternoon the regular crowd was there.  Theresa, Camille, Marion, and Arthur.  Theresa was a year older than me.  Camille was almost 17.  Marion was almost 18.  Arthur was between me and Theresa.  

We were sitting on Marion's parents' stoop.  They were all sharing what had happened that day at school.  I was quiet.  I was waiting.  

Gina was coming up the block walking her dog.  Everyone on the stoop got quiet.  Gina never walked her dog near where anyone else was hanging out  

Gina got very close to the property line and I said, "Hi Gina.  What's the dog's name"

Theresa punched me in the arm.  Everyone else just stared with their mouths open.

"His name is Sweety."

I looked at everyone on the stoop and said, "Hey Gina isn't a whore.  Someone told a lie about her.  Whatever a bj is, she didn't give one to that guy."

There it was, the elephant was on the block.  Gina stood there with Sweety at her feet.  I got up and walked down the steps to Gina and pet her dog. From behind me, I heard Camille say, "what kind of dog is he?"

Just like that Gina became part of the neighborhood.  I didn't find out what a 'bj' was until a few months later when Theresa yelled at me for being so dumb that I didn't know what it was.  So she told me.