The Battle Over Heavy T

Check out Joe Eaton: Terrell Hunter sets scrambled eggs and strips of turkey bacon on a piece of white toast. He slathers strawberry jelly on a second piece of toast and mashes the sandwich together.

The 15-year-old, known to his friends as Heavy T, stands at the kitchen table and eats, dressed in long blue satiny shorts that he slept in. He's shirtless. Fat spills in waves from his 4-foot-11-inch frame.

It's just after noon on a weekday in June, but inside Terrell's house, it feels like 5 a.m. Gold curtains block out the light. A rolled-up bath towel snakes the mail slot in the front door.

Terrell is a few bites into his breakfast when his head jerks toward the front door across the living room. As he listens to the sounds from the street, he drops the sandwich on the table. A car door slams. Terrell lumbers across the apartment, dives for the couch, lies flat on his stomach, and buries his face in the crack.

He lies still and waits.

From the street, nothing: no voices, no sounds of steps. Terrell remains buried in the couch, waiting for the knock at the door.

A couple of minutes pass, and it doesn't come. Terrell eases himself up, inches the curtain back and peeps out the picture window.

At the curb sits a blue Ford sedan, not a police cruiser, not a silver Chevy Impala like the guys from the Child and Family Services Agency drive. Terrell tumbles off the couch, walks to the kitchen, and picks up his sandwich.

"This is my life," he says, putting on his gangster shtick. "I'm not afraid of shit."

His tough words aren't enough to knock down Terrell's fear. He is terrified. Since March, he has lived in dread of getting caught. When someone knocks on the door, he hides. When he steps into his neighborhood, he scans the street. When the phone rings, he answers in an old man's voice and tells callers Terrell is not home.

Terrell isn't wanted for drugs, weapons, stolen property, or any of the other crimes that take place in the courtyard behind his home in the Greenleaf Gardens complex of Southwest. He isn't wanted for breaking the law.

The agency is hunting Terrell because his weight is ruining his health. In March, his mother lost custody of him for not keeping him thin. Since then, the 15-year-old has been an unlikely fugitive, running and hiding, slipping away when he gets caught, fighting to stay free, and getting bigger.