>>544730139
We must’ve had this same conversation a thousand times that night. When I tucked Jesse in bed, he looked up at me with tears in his eyes. He put his little hand in front of his face and wiggled his index finger, telling me to come closer.
I bent over him and he put his hands to either side of his mouth. You know, the little kid way of telling a secret? Well I turned my head and he whispered something into my ear that chilled me. At the time, I didn’t know why it chilled me, but it did.
He whispered,
>“You believe me. Right, Mom?”
I sat back up and looked down at him.
>“Believe you about what, honey?”
>“Stan,”
he said.
>“Stan’s my best friend.”
I nodded and took his temperature once more.
Again, he wasn’t running a fever. I went to bed, but couldn’t really sleep that night.
On Wednesday, when I pulled up to the school to drop Jesse off, he got this really weird look on his face and told me that he didn’t want to go in.
>“Are you feeling sick?”
I asked.
>“No,”
he said. He was chewing on his bottom lip like crazy. This was something else I’d never seen him do.
>“No. I need to go to school.”
He opened the car door and got out.
No goodbye. No I love you. Nothing.