window kept prisoner behind a steel grate lowered to save itself from mysterious vandals of the night, ghost riders of Seventh Avenue. Uncle Louie rang Pumpkin’s bell using their secret code and waited for the door to buzz. Nothing.  He rang again.

“Curious,” he said aloud. “Stay here.” He propped me up against the building. I watched as he stood there on the sidewalk staring up to the third floor.  “Lights are on.”  He tried again. “Backup plan.” Uncle Louie removed a brick from the wall and pulled out a key.  “Where there's a will.”

“There's a young second wife with a plan.”

“Haha, funny Kid.”

We were exhausted as he pulled me up the stairs. The stairwell, the dark stairwell from this m...

Please subscribe to keep reading.