After that, we exchanged pink plastic rings from a vending machine outside the grocery store.
Mine had a fake purple gem. His had a crooked silver star.
We locked pinkies.
« Thirty is ancient, » I said.
« Basically dead, » Noah agreed.
Then we ran back to class and forgot about it.
Two years later, Noah stopped growing.
At first, nobody understood what was happening.
He had always been small, but by fourth grade, the difference became impossible to ignore.
His classmates grew taller.
Continue on the next page:
