Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

Chapter 2 begins by detailing the antics of John John Watson, Francy Baskin, Trista Smith, and Britton (Bit) Burns who are also known as “the Low Cuts” (19). The group is known for stealing “anything that jingles” (19). The narrator shares that the Low Cuts “don’t steal for fun […] they do it because they have to” (20). The Low Cuts receive free school lunch because “their folks didn’t have any extra scratch to give for the itch of hunger” (20). John John, Bit, Francy, and Trista are also united by the fact that “they were the only free-lunchers with parents who were cancer survivors” (21).

After attending a support group together at school, the Low Cuts learned from Bit “how all the surgeries and treatments were what knocked everything in their lives and their parents’ lives off track financially” (21). Upon learning this, the Low Cuts cut their hair as “a sign of solidarity” and begin to steal only loose change (22).

After school one day, the Low Cuts meet at their usual spot, a bench outside the school doors. Bit is the leader of the Low Cuts, despite being “the tiniest person in their crew” (23). Bit makes up for his size in confidence and temper. He defends the other members of the Low Cuts when they are teased, except for Trista who “wasn’t the type who needed any kind of puff-up from Bit” due to her martial arts skills and sharp tongue (24). The Low Cuts carry with them the reputation of being “the kids teachers were concerned about” (24).

At their meeting place, the Low Cuts combine their loot of loose change from the day. The group takes their combined 90 cents and head out on a mission. The group arrives at “the home of the munchie master, Ms. CeeCee” who is “the neighborhood candy lady” (27). Ms. CeeCee, an elderly woman, provides candy to the neighborhood children since there was no corner store within five blocks. Bit is in a hurry. They request as much candy as Ms. CeeCee can give them for their 90 cents. Ms. CeeCee sells them old-school candy that she remembers from her youth. They take their 18 pieces of candy and rush off to their next destination to sell the candy in bundles at a higher rate.

The group arrives at a pool hall on Placer Street. Bit works up the courage to begin selling the candy. The other members of the group notice something different in Bit as he stands up to the old men who tell him to leave like “there was a knife in his voice. Something sharp they’d never heard” (35). The group joins in to help Bit with the selling. The old men in the pool hall buy the old-school candy out of a sense of nostalgia. The group works together to successfully sell all of their candy and earn nine dollars. As they leave, John John, Trista, and Francy notice that the pool hall “was like looking at a roomful of bigger Bits. In the future” (38). 

The group runs to catch the neighborhood ice-cream truck on its usual route through their neighborhood. They catch the ice-cream truck last minute and buy four vanilla soft-serve ice creams with sprinkles. Without eating the ice cream, the group rushes off to Bit’s house. Bit calls for his mom whose “cancer had come back” to come outside (40). Bit asks her how her first day back on chemotherapy went. She shares her stomach feels “‘a little queasy’” (40). Bit informs his mom that he and his friends bought her some vanilla ice cream and hand them over for her to enjoy.