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.