That Was The Year
written by Elizabeth Goldstein
Liz Ellerby is ordinary. She looks ordinary, she acts ordinary - actually, Liz is pretty sure that her life is basically the same as the life of every kid on her block. Liz may not love it, but she lives with it. She keeps her head down and plays her part - the part of a normal, eleven-year-old schoolgirl - well. That is, until Sam Cardilly joins her Grade Six 1-A class at Rickety Shay Elementary School. Sam is everything but ordinary, so how is it that he and Liz become best friends? And what will happen when Sam's year-long stay in the US is over and he must return to his own home?
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
3
Reads
572
Liz
Chapter 3
I remember the day Sam left. It was a golden morning in early spring, and the air was still sharp and unpleasantly cool. You could just see the beginnings buds on the otherwise bare apple trees in his front yard, I went over to his house to help him pack. We talked, yeah, and joked a bit, but mostly we were quiet, subdued. Whenever he looked up, his green eyes glinted strangely, but whether it was the morning sun reflecting in them or something else I could not tell.
At about ten o’clock, his mom came out of the house, her arms full of boxes. “I’m just going to put these in the car and then we’ve got to get moving. Thanks for all the help, Liz.”
I nodded. “It’s fine.” She vanished behind their van, and Sam and I were alone. I looked at him. Tall-ish, with dark green eyes and chestnut-brown hair that had grown a little in the time he was here. And now he was about to go. And what would happen when he did? Would I just go back to being ordinary - average? Just another normal kid in a normal school? Sam was what kept me from blending in and becoming exactly that.
“Bye,” I said. “Remember to write to me - sometimes.”
“Yeah. I - I will. Hey, Liz -”
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna m-miss you.”
“I’m gonna miss you too.”
“Goodbye, Liz.” He looked at me for a moment, and I almost felt he was on the verge of saying something else. He opened his mouth again, the closed it, gave me one last, long look, in which the green of his eyes glowed emerald in the sunlight. Then he brushed his hair out of his eyes and climbed into the car.
It rumbled out of the drive, past the apple trees, who were just starting to grow pale pink buds, and the flowerbeds full of delicate snowdrops, just beginning to lose their dainty white petals, and I watched as it rounded a corner and disappeared from view.
Then I turned on my heel and started walking slowly home.
At about ten o’clock, his mom came out of the house, her arms full of boxes. “I’m just going to put these in the car and then we’ve got to get moving. Thanks for all the help, Liz.”
I nodded. “It’s fine.” She vanished behind their van, and Sam and I were alone. I looked at him. Tall-ish, with dark green eyes and chestnut-brown hair that had grown a little in the time he was here. And now he was about to go. And what would happen when he did? Would I just go back to being ordinary - average? Just another normal kid in a normal school? Sam was what kept me from blending in and becoming exactly that.
“Bye,” I said. “Remember to write to me - sometimes.”
“Yeah. I - I will. Hey, Liz -”
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna m-miss you.”
“I’m gonna miss you too.”
“Goodbye, Liz.” He looked at me for a moment, and I almost felt he was on the verge of saying something else. He opened his mouth again, the closed it, gave me one last, long look, in which the green of his eyes glowed emerald in the sunlight. Then he brushed his hair out of his eyes and climbed into the car.
It rumbled out of the drive, past the apple trees, who were just starting to grow pale pink buds, and the flowerbeds full of delicate snowdrops, just beginning to lose their dainty white petals, and I watched as it rounded a corner and disappeared from view.
Then I turned on my heel and started walking slowly home.
