Peter answered the door of the house and beamed when he saw Justin "Hey Justin....come in won't you!??" he said opening the door wide and allowing him in. Peter went back to the table where he was studying for homework on Monday.

**

"Hospital?" Abigal gasped "Please call Andrew....tell him please....I can't. I just can;t tell him. But will you?" She seemed pleading

*

"Oh no....I'm not worried. Dad and Josh are here!" she said and gave a little shiver. "By Happy! It just so nice to get out..."

Miley smiled, snuggling closer to her friend. "It is. I miss those days when we would hang out."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amanda agreed, then put her arms around her friend. "Im gonna walk you to the car please work with me."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin hugged his cousin, glad to see him happy. He saw that a lot more hair had fallen out but was growing back. "What you do today?"

Ah various things" Peter said closing the book on the table. "Went to school....studied...." he put a hand on his head "Started getting some of my hair back. School wasn't nearly as stressful though, which I'm thankful for. John went to the principal's office again for fighting in the school yard. He got a demerit and was suspended for a week. So he wasn't there...." Peter sighed and leaned his elbows on the table "All my friends didn't even say anything about my hair. It was the best school day I've had in a while" He took a sip of the milk he had in the glass. "I came home and read the bible for awhile....now I'm here."

****

Abigal nodded and helped Amanda's limp her to the car. Every step hurt and when they finally reach the vehicle, Abigal burst into tears again mumbling about the pain. Amanda helped her sit in the passenger side then closed the door. Abigal looked up at the full moon, and dark shapes. "Oh Amanda....I hate to say this....but....I don't if I'm going to be able to get married this fall." she looked at her, tears pouring down her cheeks. "I hate to break Andrew's heart....I love him so dearly....but I can't walk. He doesn't want a crippled wife, I'll be a horrible mother."

Ian was restless in bed that night, another dream torturing his sleep. The images were so vivid....but painfully real in every way. He heard a gunshot then running footsteps like some one was fleeing. Then he saw a police car chasing someone who looked frightfully like him....then he saw a cold prison cell, and the door closing tightly. Then he heard a pain filled scream, the cry of a new born baby. Next he saw a beautiful brown haired woman lying motionless on a bed, people weeping at her side. He heard two people talking, their conversation faint and barely audible. "Cancer....cancer..!? NO!!!" "I'm sorry but yes....5th stage...I'm so sorry"

"SUSAN!" he cried sitting up suddenly. "The womans name is Susan...." he said sweating, instantly springing to his feet and pacing....

***

"Yeah.....it feels so good to hang out again" Chloe sighed, and yawned "I'm getting sleepy...you?"

Justin fiddled with Peter's text book. "Wow. I remember this. Ready to graduate from middle school next week? I remeber when I was graduating middle school. I had to write a letter that I would write to someone entering the sixth grade about middle school." He shook his head. "Wonder if they really showed it to actual sixth graders?" Time was flying so fast. In three months his cousin would be a high schooler and it seemed just yesterday he was finishing up seventh grade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a prison guard on night duty, when he heard the sound of a prisoner calling out a girl's name. He was unlike the one who beat Ian up for crying over his hair. He was concerned about Ian, especially since the crime happened so long ago and Ian was real upset. He walked towards the the cell. Whats going here?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amanda pulled into the hospital and helpded Abigal into the hospital and sat with her near a computer technician, who asked for Abigal's info.

Peter smiled. "Well....I don't know how ready I am...but I hope it will mean new experiences. Give me chances to grow in faith...and..." he lowered his head "To not care so much about my looks. I've realized through all this that many things are much more important than my hair. I'd rather go bald then loose everyone. Even though I do like my hair....it's just...not as important as I thought" The fourteen year old sighed, and yawned. "Well, I've got my paper almost done. Just a bit more things to scribble down"

**

Ian jerked, and looked at the guard outside his cell "Yes....everything is fine...thank you" he resumed pacing, biting his finger nails, and thinking hard on his new dream. "Susan, Susan....her name...." he mumbled

Amanda explained most of it, Abigal putting in a few things but pretty much to upset to speak. Ten minutes later a nurse came in with a wheel chair and wheeled Abigal out asking Amanda to stay behind

"It's better that way" she said then dissapeared with her friend. Before Abigal knew it she was in with a kind young doctor sitting in front of her. He talked to her gently asking her what her trouble was, about her legs, and about the crash. After she had finished tearfully explaining about her legs, he looked puzzled and came forward kneeling, and feeling her legs. He ran his hands down the muscle, then squeezed and felt. After that he drew her blood, and sent it to the lab. After he was all done he patted her shoulder "Wait in here for a little while miss Abigal, we may have the answers soon."
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
And hour later he came back in, his face grim. "Miss....I'm afraid....." he bit his lip "We are going to have to do surgery." he went on to explain that her leg tendons had been wounded and cut from the crash. They had re-healed but in the wrong way and they would have to go in and lengthen them, and let them heal the way they should be. "But I'm afraid, since we are all full your surgery will have to be posted-poned.Maybe in a months time...alright?"

Abigal burst into tears but nodded "Do what needs to be done to make me walk again....please...." she cried and he patted her pale hand.

"We will. Nurse! Please take Miss Abigal back out to her friend"

*****

Chloe slipped down in her sleeping bag, Josh lying five feet away in his. "Josh......Josh...." she hissed "But had had already fallen asleep and she instead turned to Miley "Miley...are you awake?"

Maralyn repressed the feeling of jealousy as Peter stepped in the door. It seemed sometimes that Justin paid more attention to what his cousin was going through, than about her. She breathed a quick prayer of patience and asked the Lord to give her a loving heart toward others. She had already gone through this stage once in her marriage, and she knew she didn't need to go through it again.
She slid into a chair next to Peter, a smile on her face. "I guess I should be glad I was homeschooled. I never had to really worry about what my peers thought or had every aspect of growing up srutinized by other students."

Miley was having trouble sleeping and heard Chloe ask her if she was awake. Quickly, she sat up. What if there was a wild animal nearby after all? "Yes?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amanda was reading a teen magazine, when her friend was finally wheeled into the room. She saw tears on her friend's face, but decided to wait till she got her to the car to ask what happened. When they were in th car, Amanda asked, "What did he say?"
~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter yawned sleepily again. "Thanks, Maralyn." Then he looked at Justin. "I wonder why they have us write letters to rising sixth graders?"

"You look like your tired," Maralyn commented about Peter's yawn.

~~~

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to ask you something," Chloe said, turning over on her side to face Miley. A small gust of wind blew the trees above them, creating a small whisper.

Miley listened to the whisper of the trees wishing they would form into friendly dryads and dance. "What's up?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter let out a small chuckle. "Yeah. Much more tired than the sixth graders running around yelling about how in a week they no longer will be the youngest at the school. One of them ran straight into me and said next year the eight graders would be 'smallest at their school'." He shook his head. "Then one of the eighth graders pulled a prank and put baby ducks in our classroom. My friends and I got to hold them because we begged the teacher to let us hold them before she sent them back to wherever they came from."
Justin laughed, "Sounds better than supergluing someone's chair." Then, he paused. "Oops."

Maralyn looked at her husband with humor twinkling in her eye. "Never heard that one before..." she said in a teasing manner. "Did you happen to be on the giving or receiving end of the prank?" She set her chin in her cupped palm and looked up at Justin.

Justin blushed. "I was actually on the recieving end of that one. Boy, was I mad." He laughed a little more. "I had to go to the nurses office to get removed from the chair."

Maralyn smiled. "I'm sure the kids were suggesting other ways to get freed from the chair," she chuckled. "My brother Josh was the king of pranksters. One time he some how contrived to get a metal chair set up to an electrical current..." She let the sentence hang, knowing everyone would finish off the idea.

Peter laughed, "Let me guess, it exploded!" He said, "There was a time when I was six and I got out some beer and didn't know what it was and then my granda came out with a horrified look and said, "No! NO! NO! And I didn't drink any of it so, I just looked at her and said I was getting power."
Justin exploded into laughter. "Ah you ran out of power trying to chase me." He flexed his muscle. "No one is a match for me!"

Maralyn joined in the laughter. "No, acutally it didn't explode," she answered Peter. "Josh was trying to get me to sit in it. But he didn't realized that I knew it was set up. Anyhow, I contrived my way out of the situation, but then later that day, I moved the chair to a different part of the house. Josh didn't realize it was the same chair and sat in it. You should have seen the look on his face when it shocked him! Talk about being crushed by the stone you rolled."

Peter smirked. "I think I would like to meet him someday. He sounds cool." He said, "I remeber when Justin was trying to chase me and we would eat candy and drink soda to get more energy. So, I ate all his candy and was jumping on the swing, saying "Catch me if you can!" Then, I fell off." He laughed at the memory.