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"What are you doing here?" he says with a surprised look on his face

"I saw your car," I say "What happened?"

He doesn't invite me in Instead, he walks outside and locks the door behind hined They withdrew my contract," he says as he walks toward his car

"But you only have eight weeks left of student teaching It wasn't your fault, Will They can't do that!"

He shakes his head "No, it's not like that I wasn't fired We just all thought it was best if I finishedat a different school, away fro with my faculty advisor in half an hour, that's where I'm headed"

He opens his door and reer seat

"But what about your job?" I ask as I hold onto the door, not wanting hi you don't have an inco to do?"

He ses back out of the car as he places his hands on ure it out But right now, I've got to go" He gets back inside, shuts his door, and rolls down his

"If I'uys after school?"

"Sure," I say

"We're leaving pretty early to go to randparents toar? He needs to get to bed early," he says as he slowly backs out of the driveway

"Sure," I say

"And Layken? Calain

And he's gone Just like that

18

"Close the laundry door

Tiptoe across the floor

Keep your clothes on

I got all that I can take

Teach me how to use

The love that people say you made"

-The Avett Brothers, Laundry Roohteen

I spend the rest of the afternoon helping my mother clean It keeps my uess she's leaving the s up to me now When it's ti both of the boys back to the house and we begin another discussion on Halloween costumes

"I knohat I want to be now," Kel says toroom She lays a towel on the back of the couch and looks at Kel, "What are you going to be, Sweetie?"

He s cancer," he says

She is so used to the things that come out of Kel's mouth, she doesn't skip a beat

"Oh yeah? Do they sell those at Wal-Mart?"

"I don’t think so," he says as he grabs a drink out of the refrigerator "Maybe you could "

"Hey," Caulder says "Can I be the other lung?"

My rabs a pen and paper off the bar and sits down "Well, I guess we better figure out how to sew a pair of cancerous lungs"

Kel and Caulder flock to her and start spitting out ideas

"Mom," I say flatly "You're not"

She looks up from her sketch at me and s for Halloween, then I' tothere is"

I rolldown a list of the supplies we'll need

After we return from the store with the supplies andcostumes, Will pulls up in his driveway

"Will!" Caulder runs across the street and grabs his hand, pulling him toward our house "Wait 'till you see this!"

Will helps rab the supplies out of the trunk and we all head inside