always quiet and shy around them but he felt their peace and most of all their protection. They were like his own little earth angels.
On his last d ay he thanked them for all their kindness and told them how sweet and lovely they all were. He had to tell them, they had to know. He would always remember them even though they were only in his life for a short time.
The class sang a song for him and it was a really enjoyable day for Ethan.
~~~~
Ethan arrived home from school and had one more day left with the Taylors. Ivan was back from his athletic meeting and had red eyes from crying. He hadn’t even reached the final and he blamed it all on a rash that had turned up on his face and legs.
“I would have won. It was just the rash,” he said. He then punched Ethan on the arm. “I saw you smiling.” Ethan didn’t react.
The girls knew he would be away tomorrow and were talking to him. They always argued or sometimes played and argued. Today they were reading each other’s palms. They wanted to read Ethan’s and he politely said no thanks. They were saying things to each other like, you will have three kids, you will die old. The youngest Megan said, “I will be a lawyer and marry a gentleman and live happily ever after.”
She looked at Ethan and he didn’t believe her and she could tell. “Read my palm if you like,” she said.
He looked at it, the other girls looked also. They were all intrigued with what Ethan would say. When Ethan looked at the other girl’s palms before, only from a distance, he got the feeling that the line they were talking about, that referred to death and other things was most likely their status in later relationships. They would all have many divorces it seemed to say to him, and now Megan was asking. It was his last day so he decided to look.
The thin g with Megan was she was self absorbed, wrapped up in the self, so much so all she could see was the physical self, there was no depth. She could only see the self and this would continue Ethan felt.
“I will be married happi ly ever after,” she said.
Ethan coul d see a line that ended suddenly and he knew what it was.
“You will meet someone like you. Y ou will get married but it won’t last long. You’ll be married for about three years and it will be a nasty divorce. But it may teach you.”
The docile look went fast. All the girls were intrigued. They loved what they heard. They hated Ethan but they didn’t really care much for Megan either. She had an unlikable personality that most found uncomfortable, like she did carry a dead rat with her.
“You’re wrong ,” Megan said in a mean face and left and went to her bedroom.
But Ethan wa sn’t wrong. Years from now that prediction would manifest in time and she would remember all those years ago with what Ethan had told her. Ethan had that effect, people always remembered him and what he had said.
~~~~
Ethan got up early and got ready for his last day. A friend of the Taylors was taking him to the bus stop. He was all packed and ready. He was pretty early so he just had to wait. He saw Ivan’s drums sticks, they were his special ones. Ethan knew he had to be forgiving but the rebel in him wanted to do something funny, so he decided he would compromise and do both.
He grabbed a knife and a pen and went into the bathroom where he wouldn’t be seen and decided to carve into the drum sticks. The first one he wrote his name in it....‘Ethan wuz here.’ He then put the ink into it to make it stand out. He then grabbed the other stick and carved out....‘Don’t blame the rash.’
He put the stick s under one of the mattresses. He guessed it would take them a few months before they would find them.
It was six months before Ivan would find them. They were his favorite, special sticks and he was highly upset. He always knew it was Ethan who had taken them, and one day Mrs. Taylor came in.
“I have some very good news for you, Ivan.”
She
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