Doing it my way

else had ever said about Ian was totally nonsense. From this moment on, she would consider him to be her most trusted friend.

  5:03 pm

     As the afternoon wore on, the two friends came to know each other well enough to stop talking about themselves and start talking more about normal things like favourite movies, television programs and music. Ian also decided it would be a good idea to clean up as much of the mess that the earthquake left as possible, even though Rita said it wasn't necessary. Ian thought it would make a good impression on her mother, and he was right. At 5:15, the front door opened, and her mom walked in with a bag full of groceries, to find her daughter and her new friend sitting on the couch. The television was on, and they were still using the fallen grandfather clock as a footrest, because it was simply too heavy to lift. Ian immediately stood up like a perfect gentleman.

     "Hello..?" While the woman was a bit surprised to see a boy she didn't know instead of Phoebe, she was even more surprised to see her daughter with a big smile on her face.

     "Hi mom. This is my friend Ian. He stopped by to say hello, and decided to stay. I called the girls and told them they could all stay at the carnival if they wanted."

     "Hi" Ian said. "Can I help you carry those?"

     "I was wondering whose bike that was outside." She handed the bag over to him. "By any chance would you be Sharon's son?"

     "I am ma’am." Ian carried the groceries into the kitchen and came back. "You know my folks?"

     "Not that well, but I do recall talking to them at the last P.T.A. meeting. It was some months back."

     "A lot of the dishes and glasses got broken," Rita interjected. "Ian cleaned up most of the mess."

     "I'd still be careful when walking in the kitchen," Ian suggested.

     "Oh dear," the lady said, eyeing the fallen clock. "Rita, I guess we'll have to wait till your father gets home before we move this."

     "Meanwhile, it makes a good footrest mom." Rita smiled.

     Her mother could not believe how Rita's mood had changed since the morning. "Ian, will you be staying for dinner?"

     "Thank you very much ma’am, but tonight is my mother's birthday, and they wants me home to watch her blow out the candles."

     "Well Ian, thank you for cleaning up the house and taking care of my daughter. Perhaps you can have dinner with us some other time."

     "He definitely will be," insisted Rita. "Ian, let me walk you outside."

     "It was nice meeting you ma’am."

     "The pleasure was mine, Ian." She said with a smile.

     The two of them walked outside and were greeted by a beautiful sunset. Ian unlocked his bike. "Well, I'm glad that daylight savings time doesn't end until this evening. This way I don't have to paddle home in the dark."

     Rita wasted no time. "Ian, give me another hug." He put his arms around her waist and she kissed his cheek. "You have no idea how frustrating it is for me to not be able to hug you back, Ian."

     "You'll be able to in a week. Believe me, I'll still be around." He winked at her and paddled off into the sunset.

  7:09 pm

     Rita and her mother had a nice dinner in as normal as possible under the circumstances. They talked about the restaurant's earthquake damage, and her father's return from his trip in a few days. Later, the two of them watched a little television, and her mom gave her a bath. After toweling her off and getting her into a nightgown, with specially cut armholes to accommodate the cast, she decided it was time for a discussion of a more personal nature.

     "Rita, there's something I need to talk about with you."

     She could tell by the slightly more serious tone of her mother's voice, that it wasn't just about the earthquake.

  "Yes, mom?" The two of them sat down on Rita's bed.

     "First of all dear, I'm so happy that you're feeling a lot better than you were this morning."

     "Yeah, well Ian put me in a good mood. He's really a great guy."

     "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. This boy Ian..," she paused for a while."I have complete faith in your judgment of character, Rita. If you say that Ian’s a great guy, then I'm sure he is. That was my first impression of him too. Unfortunately, not everybody shares that feeling."

     Rita now looked concerned. "What are you talking about?"

     "Listen Rita, like I mentioned before, I kind of know Ian's parents. Not real well. I've only met them a couple of times. Once at the party and once at a P.T.A. meeting."

     "Mom, is there anything wrong with them?"

     "No Rita, they seem like very nice people." She sighed. "But..."

     "But what?"

     "I hope it doesn't get you too upset..."

     "Huh?"

     "Well Rita, there's a good chance that Ian might not be going to Alamanda middle school after this semester."

     "Why not!?" Rita was now starting to get angry.

     "I hate having to tell you this, but his parents are seriously thinking about putting him in a private school for special kids. They seem to think he's..."

     "Slow?"

     Mrs. Hammond sighed. "I'm afraid they weren't quite as polite as you. I believe the word they used was 'dim-witted'."

     Rita flew into a rage upon hearing this. "That's not true! Ian's just distracted by his own loneliness! I want to talk to them right now!"

     "Calm down," her mother saw this coming. "It's ten o'clock Rita. You can't just go phoning people up at this hour. It's not polite. If you'd like my dear, at some point tomorrow, you can give them a friendly call and let them know how you feel. If I might make a suggestion, you'd be a lot better off just talking about what a good helpful person he is, as opposed to how 'wrong they are' about him.."

     "Alright." Rita knew her mom was right. "I hope you let them know that at the next P.T.A. meeting as well."

     "I will. Rita, can I ask you one more question?"

     "Sure."

     "If Ian is such a great guy, how come you've never mentioned anything about him to me before?"

     "To tell you the truth, up until today, Ian was just some guy that's in a couple of my classes at school. It was only this afternoon that I got to know him real well."

     "I'm not too pleased with Trish for leaving you with 'just some guy that's in a couple of your classes', but I'm glad everything worked out. Now Rita, try to get some sleep." She pulled the covers over her daughter, kissed her forehead and shut out the light.

  The very next morning

  10:10 am

     The tutor arrived at the Ian house quite early. She came armed with a handful of CDroms. Ian's mother greeted her at the door, and led her up to Ian's room, where he was already on the computer.

     "Ian, this is Miss Lily Ann . She's going to be working with you this week."

     "You can call me Lily if you'd like," said the tutor.

     "I'd rather he didn't," protested his mother. "I think he might take this more seriously if he were to address you as he does to any other teacher."

     Both Ian and the tutor thought that was a pretty stupid observation, considering the luck he had been having with 'any other teachers' recently. As soon as his mother left the room, they both ignored her advice.

     She sat down next to him. "So Ian, which teacher is telling me the truth?"

     "I don't know. Which teachers have you spoken to Lily?"

     "Well, your sociology teacher Mrs. Pinny has informed me that you are a witty, articulate intellectual who is much too easily distracted by the charms of the fairer sex. Your math teacher tells me you're a worthless moron."

     Ian responded in his usual manner. "I guess they were both correct."

     "Well personally, I think your math teacher's is too much." While she was talking, she slipped one of her CDRs into the tr
ay of his computer. "Let's not start with math. First we'll begin with a subject that you're getting Ds in, and then we'll move on to the 'F' category later this week. Ready Ian?"

     Big bold letters blazed across the computer monitor, "The Roman Empire, 63 B.C. - A.D. 96"

     "Oh no," Ian was half smirking and half laughing.

     Luckily, Lily saw the humor in this as well. "Look, I know it's boring, you know it's boring, but we can get through this if we take a methodical approach. There are only 11 names to remember. Agustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. Com on Ian, it’s not much different than memorizing the alphabet. We'll spend the next ten minutes repeating those names, until you've gotten them right. After that, we'll try working on the dates that each one of them ruled."

     "Lily, something tells me this is going to take a lot more than ten minutes."

     "Ian, just try to focus. Anyhow, with no hot chicks to divert your attention, I believe your ability to focus is going to multiply over the next few hours."

     "What're you talking about? You're a hot chick yourself." Ian wasn't being facetious. Lily was a strikingly attractive woman in her mid 20s.

     Lily grinned. "Ian, I'm still your drill sergeant no matter what. Now look at those names." She pointed towards the monitor. "I want you to read them, then close your eyes, and repeat them. You’ll have them all in no time at all."

     "Yeah, sure, but then I'll forget them within the hour."

     "Get on with your reading!"

     Ian just shook his head, and followed her orders. Working with someone who felt more like a