That night, Finny called me on his cell phone.

"Are we still on for tomorrow night?" he asked.

"On what?" I replied, indecisively.

"Duh!" he said. "Every Tuesday night is our skating night! The Superior Skating Skinheads on the Edge!"

"Since when are we skinheads?" I demanded.

"Since we started our skating club!" he replied. "It's our destiny to skate together every Tuesday night!"

"I heard on the weather that it was supposed to be really cold tomorrow night," I said seriously.

"Ah, who watches the weather and takes it seriously besides you?" he wondered.

"I guess you're right." I sighed. "Good night. I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"I'll give you a ride," he announced, and then hung up.

In the morning, I ate breakfast and got ready for school. I waited around for Finny until about 7:30 when I could stand it no longer. I called him.

After six rings, his mom picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi," I said, quickly. "Is Finny there? Has he left yet?"

"No, he's upstairs asleep," she replied. "Finny's such a wonderful boy.."

"Yes, I'm sure he is. Would you please wake him up for me?" I asked. "And tell him to get a move on?"

"Sure, honey," she said, hanging up.

I groaned and fell onto the couch. My mom stood in the doorway. "Are you going to be oh-kay?" she wondered.

"I'm fine," I responded, gruffly, covering my face with my hand.

"All right. I'm going to go grocery shopping," she announced, heading out the door.

Never had it occurred to me that she could have taken me to school. I doubted that Finny's mother would actually wake him up. Why didn't he have an alarm clock? I should have given him one for his birthday or Christmas or something.

I would never get to school at the rate I was going. I grabbed my books and began to walk toward Finny's house. I didn't have to fear for him actually getting up and going to my house while I wasn't there. Since his house was only four or five blocks from mine, I would be able to get there in time to wake him up and get to school in time for the end of first block.

I was only chased by one dog. It didn't get the chance to bite me, because I threw a stick, and the dog started chasing it. It took me about half an hour to get to Finny's. As I had predicted, he was still there. His car was in the driveway.

I jogged up to the front door and entered the code. His mother greeted me right at the door.

"Hello, Gene, dear!" she exclaimed, squeezing me.

"Um..hi.." I said, choking. "I'm just gonna go upstairs and get Finny-"

"Well, I'm afraid he's not feeling well," she told me, with a frown. "But, if you leave a message, I will be sure to give it to him."

"That's oh-kay," I assured her. "I'll just go leave him a message myself." I released myself from her and hopped up the stairs.

"If you catch it, I'm not taking you both to the doctor!" she called after me, turning on the vacuum cleaner and continuing with her tidying.

I knocked on Finny's door. A sticker got stuck to my hand in the process. I peeled it off and plastered it back on the door. He hadn't answered my knocking, so I opened the door just a crack. "Finny?" I wondered. "I'm coming in now." I opened the door the rest of the way. A pile of dirty clothes toppled over onto the floor as I did. I was surprised that it was possible to even live in that room. It was filthy. "Finny?" I asked again. "Are you dead?"

"Worse," came a response from underneath the blankets on his bed. "Dying."

"Why?" I questioned, sitting on the side of his bed. "And why didn't you pick me up and take me to school this morning?"

"Because I'm dying!" he burst out, sitting straight up, the blankets flying off of him. He suddenly made a funny face and lay back down.

"Why are you dying?" I inquired, going along with him.

"I have a terrible flesh-eating disease that's eating my flesh," he said, dramatically.

"Really?" I replied, sarcastically. "However shall we get rid of it?"

"We're going to have to cut off my skin," he whispered, covering his face with his hands.

"Where's my machete?" I asked, looking around.