Elliot was running, sprinting down the track at top speed. He was panting, his lungs were burning, his heart was racing, his adrenaline was high.
"Go, Elliot! Go!" cheered his mother Mary from the crowd of onlookers.
"You can do it, little bro!" shouted his older brother Michael.
"I believe in you!" exclaimed his little sister Gertie.
Elliot briefly flashed them all a smile as he continued running down the track with his energy renewed with his family's encouragement. He ducked his head slightly and sprinted to the head of his track team, so now he was in the lead.
The crowd went ecstatic with roars of cheering as Elliot's team came back in the lead as they ran around the bend in the track. Then as they reached the end of it Elliot suddenly found he had even more strength than he had to begin with and made a short dash toward the end of the line and came in ahead of everyone else, thus securing his team's place in the lead for the third year in a row.
The crowd all stood up and applauded and cheered and screamed with joy at the victory. Then as Elliot came staggering slightly and panting roughly up to the resting bench his family ran up to him and he was embraced by Mary while Gertie panted him on the back and Micheal ruffled his hair.
"Congratulations, Elliot! I knew you could do it!" exclaimed Mary bursting with pride.
"You're quite an athlete, bro," said Michael equally proud. "It must run in the family."
"You were just like the road runner," said Gertie.
Elliot just grinned as he modestly took in their praise.
Just then Keys, who was now officially Elliot's stepfather having been now been married to his mother for three months, came up to them with a big broad smile on his face. Mary released Elliot from her embrace as Keys came up and wrapped his arm around Elliot's shoulder's in a very fatherly way.
"You're a straight A student, and a third-year track champion," he said affectionately. "I must say I couldn't be prouder than if you truly are my own son. Now what do you say we go get some ice cream to celebrate, huh?"
They all agreed to this and went to the local ice cream parlor where they each got themselves the biggest ice cream sundaes they could eat.
It seemed like the life of Elliot and his family had improved tremendously ever since Dr. Keys had entered into it. But then, of course Keys wouldn't have ever come into their lives if E.T. had come in first.
E.T. was a small extra-terrestrial being who had been left behind on Earth near their home and Elliot had taken him in and had helped him to build a transmitter to contact his home planet to come and get him. Then when E.T. had become deathly sick Keys had come and tried in vain to save him, and then E.T. was revived by the love Elliot felt for him and by the combined healing energy of his companions heart lights. Then E.T. had returned to his home in his spaceship. He soon came back to Earth though that year and had celebrated Christmas with them. Then he had come back again three years later when Elliot was experiencing tough times at school and he couldn't find the strength of the will to make the team, and now thanks to E.T.'s encouragement he was a champion and was admired and respected by basically everyone around him.
Mary had dated Keys for almost four years, just after Elliot's biological father had returned from New Mexico and filed for divorce and then moved back to New Mexico. When his parents had first separated it had been very hard for Elliot, and now he had the best stepfather that could ever be imagined for him. They were all a closely connected family, and all because they had all showed a little bit of kindness to a small being who was from another world.
Later that evening, to celebrate Elliot's victory further, they all ate out at his favorite restaurant that had the most gourmet food in town.
"So, now that the school year is almost over with, what do you want to do during the Summer holidays?" asked Keys over dinner.
"I think I'll just work on my football skills, and towards getting accepted into NYU," said Michael.
"I think I'll try out for the summer swim team," said Gertie.
"I think I'd like to go to that Science and Astronomy camp we read about," said Elliot.
Keys smiled lovingly at Elliot. "You really want to do everything you can to make me proud of you, don't you?"
"Yeah," said Elliot, "and also E.T.. "After all if it hadn't been for him I don't know where I'd be today."
Keys smiled understandingly. "I know how you feel. E.T. shaped my whole life ever since I first met him too. Before I met him I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and then he came and I channeled my life toward the most positive and rewarding ambitions in which I chose to pursue science and medicine. Then just when my life seemed to going downhill E.T. came into it once again, and then all of you came in."
"I often wonder about E.T.," said Elliot wistfully. "I wonder how he's doing at his home. If he thinks about me and all of you. I also wonder when I'll see him again."
Keys nodded. "I know, and I do too, Elliot. Wherever E.T. is now I am sure he holds a special place for you in his heart and you'll see him again when the time is right. The best things in life are usually the ones worth waiting for the most, that's what I've learned from him."
"I learned a lot from him, too," said Michael. "I learned that extra-terrestrial beings are actually really nice and friendly and not mean and hostile like in the most popular of science fiction stories I used to enjoy."
Keys nodded. "And that is something which the whole world should learn."