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apartment before discussing rent. It"s plenty big enough for two residents and lots of visitors. You may want something smaller for yourself at the same price you would be paying for half of mine. Uh… I don"t believe I caught your name.”
Edward fumbled for his reply. “Oh, gee, that"s probably because I neglected to tell you. Sorry about that. The name… is… Eric… Eric Townsend.”
April, 1972
    Evan whistled a happy tune as he walked around the corner onto Grove Street with his gift for Michelle under his arm. He considered her birthday to fall at an appropriate time of year… late April, the middle of spring. To Evan, Michelle was a breath of spring air, and like spring she gave him a new outlook on life when she came into his life six years ago. In less than two months she would be graduating high school and he wanted to give her something special.
    Evan made his way to the Flemings" front walk and rang the door bell. He expected Michelle to answer the door, but instead it was Mary. “Hi, Mrs. Fleming. Is Michelle here?”
    “Yes, Evan. Come on in. Michelle is just having a tough day.”
Evan spotted John sitting in his chair reading the newspaper and gave him a polite greeting. Despite years of a wonderful relationship between Evan and Michelle, John had never been completely at ease with it. Evan had hoped that Mr. Fleming would dispel his concerns once Michelle turned eighteen, but he also knew that Mr. Fleming, as well as Mrs. Fleming, would sadly never be… could not be… permanent fixtures in their lives. He heard Michelle sobbing. “Mrs. Fleming, is everything all right?”
“I"m hoping you can cheer her up, Evan. Michelle is just the victim of some relentless teasing by her classmates.”
“Teasing?”
“Yeah, it"s cruel really. Even high school kids can be cruel when they should be more mature. With graduation approaching, I guess they feel that they need to get in as much cruel taunting as they can before they enter the world of responsibility.”
“What are they saying to her?”
“Oh, they"re calling her „baby sister" because they think she looks like a middleschooler. I can"t say I disagree with them, but I do disagree with the way they carry on about it, especially when they see that it bothers her so. We have no idea why Michelle seemed to stop growing years ago, but we"re sure it"s just for a time. Sometimes kids experience growth spurts and sometimes kids experience periods where they don"t grow much at all. I tried telling her that she is perfectly normal and her grades prove that she is indeed growing up to be a smart woman. She just doesn"t feel like a woman right now. That"s where I hope that you come in on your white horse and change her mood. You made her feel like a little woman when she really was our little girl.”
Evan smiled. He wondered when this subject would fully surface. He wondered how he would prepare to handle it. Mary"s justification and self-assurance helped. At least he would not need to convince her mother. John was more or less numb to what was going on. He could not explain it, so he chose not to discuss it. As long as he was not asking questions, there was no reason for Evan to feel obligated to address the situation. But Evan"s heart went out to Michelle. He hated to hear or see her crying. He had always soothed her tears before. Would his words have the same effect this time?

III
December 13, 1983
     
“You bastard!”
    Evan wanted to sink through the hospital bed and descend under the floor. “And hello to you, Mary… er… Mrs. Fleming.” He had always addressed her as „Mrs. Fleming", but it had been eleven years since he last saw her. „Mary" seemed like the most appropriate thing to call her now that he and Michelle were thirtysix and twenty-nine, at least according to what Mary believed them to be. „Mom" was another option but, judging by Mary"s greeting of contempt, Evan surmised that she would not appreciate such a term of endearment,