He wasn't comfortable with his knees crossed, he wasn't comfortable with both feet on the ground, he wasn't comfortable at all. Rose placed a hand on his knee and scolded him slightly. Dr. Abbott frowned and placed his feet firmly on the ground. Star clicked her pen with a menacing look at Dr. Abbott and wrote something on a pad of paper. Actually, Star was writing her grocery list, but Dr. Abbott didn't need to know that. Star cleared her throat and turned to Rose.

"Okay, from what you've both said, you seem to be doing everything fine," Star said and Rose smiled. Then Star turned to Dr. Abbott who was now hopeful this experience would not be as painful as he expected. He was disappointed.

"You, husband. You're doing everything wrong. Now that Andy's in town you're doing 2/3 less work, so why aren't you home more?"

"I-"

"Shut up. You think that by spending as much time at the office it makes Andy less important in your life. Stop that. He's helping you. Go home when you can, grab the wife here and go for a walk. Just don't get lost. Wait, on second thought, get lost. Hardship brings people together. Some freaky kind of rule. Make sure the two point five children are fed, cleaned, clothed, and put to bed first, though. Wrap yourselves warmly, bring a flashlight, go get lost in the woods. It'll reinvent your marriage. It did for mine… the first one…" Star said and a slight frown took over her face for a split second.

"Okay, you have your little, mission, thingy, now, go. Fix things. Go!" Star yelled. The husband and wife jumped and ran from the room. Star had a power about her that was frightening, and she knew it.

Ephram placed all of the books he wouldn't need for homework in his locker and got out his coat. He saw the shoulder of a person his size come up to him, and when he shut the locker he found Orrie standing there, holding something over his shoulder.

"Ice skates," Orrie told Ephram before he asked.

"For what?" Ephram asked her. Orrie sighed.

"Attempting the impossible," Orrie admitted.

"I heard that," Jig said walking over to them. She wrapped an arm around the small of Orrie's back and leaned on him.

"Orrie's going to teach me how to ice skate," Jig said and Ephram started laughing.

"I'm going to try anyway…" Orrie said.

"You can barely walk! How are you supposed to skate?" Ephram asked her. Jig frowned.

"If I can learn to tango, I can learn to ice skate," she informed him. Orrie and Ephram looked at her surprised.

"You can tango?" they asked her in unison. She laughed.

"Yea, Is… yea can't you?" Jig said placing a grin on her face. Orrie and Ephram frowned but both figured it was best to be forgotten.

"You want to help me Ephram? I have a feeling it's a two man job," Orrie said and received a playful jab in the ribs from the girl at his side. Ephram raised his hand.

"No, thanks. I've never been good at ice skating," Ephram said.

"Well he can teach you too! I won't have to fall alone!" Jig said. Orrie laughed. Ephram shook his head with a grin.

"No. But I'll tell you want I will do. Here…" he said taking a scarf from his bag and hanging it around Jig's neck. She ran her hands over it.

"It's so soft…"

"Yea, well… That's my lucky scarf, so take care of it," Ephram told her. Jig straightened her back and saluted him. She then began to laugh at herself but cut herself short as some memories floated to the surface.

"Well, I have to go get the rest of my…padding," Jig said tilting her head to one side and leaving them. Orrie chuckled slightly watching her go then turned back to Ephram, a slightly more serious tone on his face.

"That scarf…" Orrie started, giving Ephram an idea of where he was going, "you're mom?"

"Yea," Ephram said sadly. He then waved good bye to his cousin, turned around, and walked away. It had taken Julia Brown two months to knit that scarf for her son. It cost her about eight dollars to make. Now it was priceless.

Dr. Brown strolled down the aisle casually looking through the canned foods. He hadn't made a list of what they needed, but he knew they needed things. Food type things. So he would just get what it occurred to him they could use. Soup. It was cold out. He couldn't burn soup. But what kind… Neither of the kids like tomatoes, Ephram was allergic to mushrooms, chicken noodle was for sick days, and he didn't like vegetable soup. Dr. Brown needed to make a list before he came out again.

"This is such a pathetic little place. Where's the miso soup?"

"I think there's some in Buffalo…"

"If you think miso soup is what's getting you back to Buffalo you need to try harder…" Dr. Brown heard two familiar voices say from the other side of the aisle wall. He froze in his tracts and dropped into a squatting position. His first notion was to flee, but Star would see him. He could be invisible, and she would see him.

"Do you smell that?" Star asked, further down the aisle now.

"Yea, I think a mouse died," Cory snapped back.

"No, it's not the death smell. It's more like, Andy?" Star asked walking around the corner and finding her little brother crouched down near the floor.

"Ah! Yup! Here it is!" Andy said grabbing the first can he could get and standing up. Star and Cory walked over to him. Well, Star walked, Cory was dragged. Star looked at the can and then at Dr. Brown suspiciously.

"Oh, hi Star," Dr. Brown said as if just noticing her there. She looked him in the eyes, and obvious frown plastered to her face.

"Andy since when do you eat strained beets?" Star asked him. Dr. Brown looked at the can in his hands. Surely enough he was holding strained beets.

"I don't, but, Ephram does. The air up here, it's changed him," Dr. Brown said placing the can into his basket. Star continued looking at him like she didn't believe a word that escaped his lips.

"Evidently for the worse…" Star said and Dr. Brown laughed even though he didn't find it funny.

" 'For the worse!' Ha! I'll have to tell him that one! You know! I'll go tell him now! Bye…" Dr. Brown said turning around and walking quickly out of the aisle. Star watched him retreat suspiciously and Cory scoffed.

"Is that a big enough incentive to move back home?" Cory asked her.

Amy wouldn't mind switching places with Fanny Price. Sure she was ignored most of her life, but at least she has always known whom it is she really loves. Not even the offering of wealth and a good name can deter her from the man she loves. And she gets him too. Which is perfect. A "happily ever after" story. Jane Austen likes writing those. Amy liked reading them. Of course, she always hated it when she had to put the book down and reality slapped her in the face. Amy was a book addict. First it started off as an easy way to escape reality every now and them. No harm no foul. But as time went on, the more she read the more she began to realize everything she would never do, places she would never go, people she would never be. Reality became so horrible, so painfully plain, she needed books. She couldn't survive without reading. It consumed her. She spent hundreds of dollars every year on books. It was ruining her life, her family. This addiction to reading was destroying everything but her grades. Her world was falling apart, which only made her read more and more. She always thought it was funny, they had rehabilitation for druggies, but none of bookies. Unless they're the gambling type of bookie… But that's different. Where was the twelve step program for the addicted reader? Amy laughed slightly. She should bring that up with Desi. She'd probably get a kick out of it. She might even suggest the idea to her father. Not that her father would listen. Amy had deduced that Desi's parents were the reason Desi had gone to see Star that tragic day. It was always the parents. Except for Amy, actually. Her parents were pretty good when she thought about it. Ephram's mother was dead and his father had pretty much ignored him for fifteen years. Both of Jig's parents were dead. Desi's never recognized her as an actual living being. And as for Orrie and Cory's parents, well, the boys are both alive, and that must have been an accomplishment. Even Fanny Price had crappy parents. Colin had good parents. They were strong and yet loving. Strict, but reasonable. Amy really wouldn't mind having them for her parents. When she was young, her crush on Colin first developing, she would call his parents "Mom" and "Dad." Colin never minded. He would even joke a few times, joke that her calling his parents that, meant that they were supposed to get married.

There was no way she could ever love any one like she loved Colin. She did love him. Star had to be wrong. Amy, she, she didn't even talk to Ephram that much anymore. Now that Jig and Orrie got here, Ephram didn't depend solely on Amy for friendship. He didn't depend on her at all. He was his own person, making his own circles with people who liked what he liked. That was good. She was happy for Ephram. He was happy. It was her cousin, but his friend. Actually, Amy supposed, to Jig, friendship probably feels more like family. Amy and Ephram, they could never be like family. Ephram was a friend to Amy when Amy needed one, and she would always be grateful for that. But Amy didn't need a friend anymore, not a friend like that. Now that Colin was awake, Amy needed nothing more from a friend than what she got from Desi. Desi was a companion who understood without words. "Friendship is when silence between two people is comfortable." Amy had a friend, and Ephram had a friend, so they no longer needed each other. But Amy needed Colin. Star was wrong.

Ephram decided to take a detour on his way home that afternoon. By no coincidence this detour took him by the skating pond Orrie and Jig were at. He didn't come by to spy on them, he didn't care. He came by to see if he could help carry Jig home when she falls and breaks something other than her pride, which is easily mended. As Ephram approached the snow covered pond, he found an inhabited bench sitting at the bit of it. On the ice were Jig and Orrie, inching the way across the pond. From where he approached Ephram could see the white snow spots on Jig's coat and pants from where she had fallen. That proved no surprise. What was a surprise, however, was the before mentioned inhabited bench. It was Desi. She was seated on the bench, well bundled, watching the coupled perform in front of her, and enjoying their mistakes. Desi sat directly in the center of the bench, leaving from on either side for one person. Ephram wordlessly sat down at her left. He was not going to mention the peck on the cheek she had given him. In truth it had almost vanished from his mind. But it had not from Desi's, and her strange posture around him reminded him of the kiss and run.

"Amazing, isn't it? They've known each other about two weeks and look like they've loved each other all of their lives…" he said, figuring Jig and Orrie was a safe ground for conversation. Desi nodded, nervously.

" 'Some people can talk for years and never really know each other, and some at first words are old friends,' " Desi more or less quoted. Ephram smiled. I had always liked reading quotes. That's probably how he knew that "birds coughing in the trees" bit he told Jig so many weeks ago.

"Who said that?" Ephram asked her. Desi shrugged.

"I just remember the quote," she said and he chuckled slightly. He than sighed and the two fell silent for a few moments, watching Jig's amusing attempt and gliding on the ice.

"So are we friends?" Ephram asked her suddenly. Desi paused, thinking it over.

"I'd like to think so."

"Good, me too," Ephram said with a smile. Desi smiled back.