Free A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) by S.L. Baum

Gold Rush,”
Summer read from her paper.
    They turned toward me... it was clearly my
turn to reveal my draw. But I stood silent, thinking about the
event I’d drawn.
    “ Emily, what’d you get?”
Summer waved her hand in front of my face as she asked.
    “ Sorry... Spacing... Pearl
Harbor,” I mumbled, “and the United States’ entrance into World War
II,” I continued.
    I knew James and Catherine had opted to
relax at home that day. So when I arrived at the house after
school, I sought them out. I found them in their study, reading.
James was sitting at one end of the couch and Catherine was lying
down, her head propped with a pillow and her feet resting in his
lap. I envied the comfort and security they each felt in the
other’s presence. James looked up from his book and smiled warmly
at me.
    “ Are you both enjoying your
day off from the world?” I asked.
    “ We are thoroughly enjoying
it. We decided that today was a day for relaxing, nothing more,”
James answered.
    “ How was your day?”
Catherine inquired.
    “ Just another day spent
posing as a high school senior. My history teacher hit me with a
good one today. I get to write a paper and give a presentation on
Pearl Harbor and the U.S.’s entrance into World War II. Lucky me,”
my voice was heavy with sarcasm.
    “ Oh sweetie, I know the
topic of any war does not thrill you – especially that one,”
Catherine said as she sat up.
    “ Just write a thorough,
fact driven paper. You’ll do a fine job,” James
encouraged.
    “ We get extra credit for
wearing a costume or bringing in an authentic prop from the time
period,” I added.
    “ Well that is up to you.
I’m sure we have a few authentic things around here somewhere,”
Catherine walked over and firmly planted her hands on my shoulders.
“You decide,” she gave me a reassuring smile and hugged me
tightly.
    “ I’ll think about it,” I
said as I turned to leave the room.
    “ Don’t worry, you’ll do us
proud,” James encouraged again as I walked out of their study and
headed to my bedroom.
    I looked at the clock. It would be at least
three hours until my, now nightly, call from Link. I needed a
movie, a sci-fi I decided. Space Aliens were the perfect thing for
me right now. I was thankful for my collection of movies. They had
a way of letting me clear my head and disappear into their fantasy
instead of dwelling on and worrying about my reality.
    On Friday, Mrs. Beech again stood at the
front of the room with the same shoe box from Monday perched in her
hand.
    “ This time, I have a day of
the week and a number written on each paper. There will be three
presentations per day, each day next week. If you draw Monday-Two , from the box,
you will be the second presentation on Monday. You will get fifteen
minutes for your presentation followed by a question and answer
period. By the end of the week we will be done with our review and
the following week is Finals Week. All papers are due Monday
though, so keep a copy for your presentation. You all get that?”
she asked, making sure we understood, “I’ll walk around the class
and you can draw your day,” she finished and started her trek
around the room.
    I reached in the box, when
Mrs. Beech arrived at my desk, and drew out a folded pink slip of
paper. I opened it up and revealed the words Friday-Two , written in her bubbly
handwriting. Yuck! I was really hoping for Monday, bite the bullet,
get it over with ASAP. I turned around in my desk to reveal my draw
to the group. Rusty, Summer, Burke, and Delilah each showed their
pink slips of paper. Incredibly, we each drew a different day of
the week.
     
    The next morning Link arrived at my house at
nine o’clock sharp, again, for another day of skiing. We stayed on
Meadows. I wasn’t adventurous enough to try my skills on Lift Ten.
It was a long ride to the top. That meant a long way back down. I
promised that next weekend we would ski out from my house on
Galloping Goose. That trail