Question for American flisters, please?

[thismaz]

I am going through ice cream, making the little corrections to grammar and stuff that I missed when I was first posting and I came across something in my first chapter that brought me up short.

There is a passage that goes like this:

You just didn't shout in the streets of Sunnydale after dark. It was something kids grew up knowing, in the same way that they knew not to step on the cracks in the pavement, and it was talked about in the same way - 'watch out for the monsters if you go out at night'. And just like the cracks in the pavement, there came a time when it was no longer spoken of out loud, except to ridicule, but being cautious had become natural.

The question: Is 'pavement' an okay word to use here, when I am in a young American boy's POV?
Or should it be 'Sidewalk'? Or something else entirely?

Any assistance gratefully received.

Comments

[grneyedwoman.livejournal.com]

In many cities in California the streets and roads are paved with asphalt.The freeways are a combination of poured concrete and asphalt. The sidewalks are poured with concrete. As a kid it was "step on a crack and break your mother's back" So the walk home from school was spent avoiding every little crack in the sidewalk.
Hugs

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

step on a crack and break your mother's back
I've heard that one before. There is also the story about stepping on the cracks leading to being eaten by a bear, which I read in a A.A.Milne poem as a kid.

I hadn't heard of "Step on a crick and you'll marry a brick and a spider will come to your wedding." I got that from here http://www.csicop.org/superstition/library/cracks.html

Hee, Isn't it fun how a simple question leads to learning even more. *g* Even if I haven't managed to find an original source yet.

Thank you.