At one of the school's display cases, Alan was hanging a garland of hand-picked flowers below a large photograph of Fern. If only I could light some candles, he said to himself, but that would be against the fire code.
Through the corner of his eye he noticed D.W. strolling in his direction. She's coming this way, he thought. I'm not sure if knowing who I'm going to marry is a blessing or a curse. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.
"Whatcha doing, Alan?" the aardvark girl asked him.
"I'm putting up a memorial," he replied with a smile.
"What's a memorial?" was D.W.'s next question.
"It's something that helps you to remember," said Alan.
"Oh," said D.W. "You mean, like, state capitals and stuff?"
"No," Alan explained to her. "This memorial will help us to remember Fern, so she'll live on in our hearts."
"There's no one living in my heart," said D.W. maturely. "But there are little people living in my ears. Sometimes they whisper things to me."
"Whatever," said Alan. "Say, have you ever played chess?"
D.W. shook her head. "Don't like chess."
"Why not?"
"It's too hard," said the little girl. "How am I supposed to remember that the king can move only one square at a time, the queen can move any number of squares in any direction, the rook can move any number of squares horizontally or vertically, the bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, the knight can move two squares in one direction and one square in the other direction, and the pawn can move two squares forward on its first move, or one square forward, and it can capture diagonally? I'm only six years old!"
Not bad, thought Alan. "If you come to my house after school, I'll teach you how to play chess," he offered.
"Um, I don't know," said D.W., shifting the sole of her shoe.
"It'll be great," said Alan excitedly. "You'll rise through the ranks and become a grand master. You'll be the next Deep Blue."
As D.W. pondered Alan's proposal, a strange, low voice uttered to her, "Go to the girls' locker room."
"Okay, forget about chess," said Alan. "We'll play Scrabble. I'll teach you all the words that have a Q without a U."
"Uh, I gotta go, Alan," said D.W. "The people in my ears are whispering again."
The aardvark girl scampered away. Great, thought Alan. She's schizophrenic. Oh well, maybe they'll find a cure for that in the next ten years.
The bell rang for the beginning of classes, but D.W. was undeterred in her race to the locker room. She found it empty, as no one met there during the current period. Okay, I'm here, she thought, tiptoeing toward the showers. What now? Is there a surprise?
A whisper in her left ear said, "I've got a secret."
"Oh, I love secrets," said D.W. with glee.
The tiny voice moved to her right ear. "What I'm about to tell you, you mustn't tell anyone—especially not the Yordilians."
"Huh?" said the puzzled girl. "But the Yordilians are all gone. They went back to their own planet."
"That's all I needed to hear," said the voice. No longer a whisper, it unmistakably belonged to another little girl.
I know who that is, thought D.W. Glancing about, she asked, "Where are you?"
As she stared at the row of lockers ahead, a solid image appeared out of thin air. It was a girl with cotton-like hair and floppy ears, clutching a sapphire-hued stone in the fingers of her right hand.
"EEEEK! A GHOST!" cried D.W. in terror.
"Not so loud," said Fern Walters softly.
"Eeeek! A ghost!" D.W. whispered.
To be continued
