Shortcuts

When I was in fourth grade, my family moved across town to be closer to the restaurant we owned. My new elementary school was only about a mile from our home so I walked home everyday. Soon, I made friends who lived near me and they told me about their super-secret shortcut.

The shortcut involved climbing through a downed fence in the back of the school, taking multiple switchbacks through ice plant and strangers’ backyards, and it ended at an intersection 3 blocks from my house. In all, it p...