Between the Lines

I slipped past the cracked front door, navigated the ground-floor exit, and stepped out into the open courtyard. On the asphalt path, someone had drawn a chain of numbered chalk squares. *Sss...* A hopscotch grid. I paused before the first chalk boundary, measuring the distance with my eyes. Then, bending my plush knees, I gathered my weight and hopped forward. *Thump.* All four of my blunt feet landed squarely inside box number one, puffing up a faint white ring of chalk dust. I stood firmly inside the lines, already calculating the leap toward box number two.