“…nine, ten! Ready or not, here I come!” Janey laughed, and scanned the grove of trees for her friend. Emma covered her mouth to keep from laughing and crouched low to the ground behind the tree. She’d picked the tree because it wasn’t very cute—kind of like a slug with arms. She thought it might…
Category Archives: Friendship
“Look, Janey, that tree’s yawning,” Emma said, pointing to a tree at the end of the block. “What tree? Where?” Emma ran up to the tree and pointed up. “Right here, see?” Her friend squinted her eyes at the tree and tilted her head. “It’s just a tree with a hole in it, and a…
“Of course we need each other,” the little, crooked tree said, as its twisted branches began to mingle with its bigger neighbor. The bigger, well-formed tree thought about his companion’s bold statement. “I see now,” the bigger tree rustled with delight. “You are like an exclamation point at the end of my sentence. You add…
It was a forty five minute walk to the abandoned school where Nev had agreed to meet her. She waited by the entrance, glad to have Zoe for company. Dusk was starting to settle in. She gave three short whistles, like they used to do when she and Nev and Mearzt had played in the…
“Ayn, you’ve seen the vid that’s now circulating about the Terrestrials and your father? Good,” she continued when Ayn nodded. “What he may not have told you was that the vid has generated death threats against your father.” “What?” Ayn leaned back against the door, looking at her dad, who was busy looking at the…
“The Counsel isn’t going to ship people from the home planet to mine for minerals, Nev,” Ayn had said. “That’s crazy.” “Consider the source,” Nev said. If she didn’t know any better, Ayn would think that Nev were the crazy one. But he wasn’t. He was the smartest person, besides her parents, that she knew.…
It was obvious as soon as the Counsel began arriving that everyone was on edge about something. They stood in the living room, not even bothering to sit, drinking cocktails and eating finger food, their conversation a buzz of topics Ayn mostly didn’t understand until Professor Chirwnoff said, “That’s right, the mine’s been closed now…
She was checking to see if Mearzt had left messages when Lettie called through the door, “Please be ready in ten minutes, Ayn.” Ayn jumped as if she’d been caught cheating on a test. She mouthed a curse, but called back, “Okay,” then, remembering her mom’s advice, added, “thank you.” It wasn’t easy being nice…
“Nev is full of hot air, that’s all,” Ayn continued. “I mean, did you see the vid? It was laughable.” “Ayn—” “I’ll bet she—” “Ayn.” The hard edge in her dad’s voice silenced her. “Nev is not as innocent as you think.” “He didn’t take those photo images,” Ayn said. “I don’t know about that,”…
Her friend answered immediately. Ayn told her what had just happened and asked if she knew where Nev was. “I think he had to work after school today,” she said, sounding worried. “I’ll find out.” “Do it now,” Ayn whispered. “I will. Call you right back,” Mearzt said. There was a knock on the bathroom…
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