One Saturday, Leland and Greg were parked in front of the TV, watching Saturday morning cartoons, and shoveling sugar coated cereal into their faces. Link was in the room as well, reading the newspaper. Marcia was sitting at the kitchen table, going over some layouts for the Carter's store catalogue, when the phone rang. Marcia stood up, and picked it up.

"Hello?" she said. "Oh, hi, Betsy. Long time, no hear."

Leland and Greg heard their mother in the kitchen, and went to investigate. Leland knew that Derek's mother was named Betsy. The Lizards and the Kelsos hadn't seen each other for awhile, not since Leland left the hospital.

"So what's going on?" Marcia asked. There was a long pause, and Marcia's face grew very grim. "Oh no. Oh my god. Betsy, I'm so sorry. Yes, of course. Call anytime. I'll be here for you."

And with that, Marcia hung up the phone. Leland and Greg were looking at her, wondering what in the world that was about. Marcia pushed past them, and went into the den.

"Link, I need to talk to you," she said.

"Who was on the phone?" Link asked, putting down his paper.

"Betsy Kelso."

"Oh."

"Mom, what's going on?" Leland asked.

"We'll tell you in a minute," Marcia said. "Go watch cartoons, and finish your breakfast."

Leland trudged back into the den. Greg followed. They sat down on the floor, and tried to watch the cartoon on the TV screen, but they're curiosity was killing them. They abandoned their routine, and stood in the kitchen doorway, listening to their parents talk.

"Man, can you believe this?" Link asked. "What are we going to tell Leland?"

"I don't know," Marcia said. "I still can't believe it myself. I do know that we are going to have to tell him."

"Tell me what?" Leland mumbled. This was driving him crazy.

"This isn't going to be easy," Link said. "We have to handle this carefully, like we did when we had to tell him he had leukemia when he was diagnosed."

"I know, but I still don't want to tell him," Marcia said.

"Tell me what?!" Leland yelled, losing his patients whatsoever. He came into the room, and looked at his parents. "You guys are driving me crazy!"

Link and Marcia looked at each other. There was no way around this. Marcia decided to break the news, since she had answered the phone.

"Leland, sit down," she said. Leland groaned, and climbed into his stool at the kitchen counter.

"That was Mrs. Kelso on the phone," Marcia continued. "Derek . . . . well, he had a relapse right after Thanksgiving, and, well . . . ."

"Leland, Derek died early this morning,"  Link said, coming directly to the point.

Silence. Dead silence. Leland froze. He felt as if the pit of his stomach just dropped out. He couldn't move.

"Leland?" Link asked. "You okay?"

"I think . . . . I'm going to throw up," Leland said after his jaw unfroze.

"I knew you could die from cancer," Greg commented.

"I didn't need to hear that," Leland groaned.

Leland jumped off his stool, and went down the hall to the bedroom. His head was spinning. This was a little too much for him.

A few days later, the Kelsos dropped by the Lizards. Link and Marcia had offered to help them with funeral arrangements.

"So how's Leland doing?" Mr. Kelso asked.

"Well, he's doing all right," Link replied. "Although he hasn't said much in the past few days."

"The news kind of hit him hard," Marcia replied. "But I think we can make this work."

"Make what work?" Leland asked, as he wandered into the living room.

"I was just about to come get you," Link said as he pulled Leland into his lap. "We got to talking, and we were wondering if you could talk to Gosalyn for us."

"What for?" Leland asked.

"We thought that her dad could sing at Derek's funeral," Mrs. Kelso said. "He told us that you knew Darkwing Duck, and that you were able to get him to visit Derek in the hospital."

Leland nodded. He agreed to call Gosalyn, but he couldn't promise anything. He went over to the phone, and dialed.

"Hi Gosalyn," he said when she picked up. "It's Leland."

"Hi," Gosalyn said, a little surprised to be hearing from him. "We haven't seen you in school for a couple of days. What's up?"

"Umm, you know my friend Derek? My room mate at the hospital?"

"Yeah?"

"Well . . . . uhh, he died a couple of days ago."

"Whoa, you're kidding! Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, well . . . . his parents are over here because my parents are helping with the funeral, and they were wondering if I could talk you into talking your dad into singing at the funeral."

"I'll go put my dad on for you now. He's in the room with me now, and he wants to know what's up."

Leland had hoped he wouldn't have to tell the story more than he had to. But he repeated it for a second time for Drake.

"Say no more, Leland," Drake said. "You tell your parents and Derek's parents I'll be glad to do it. Have Derek's parents call me so we can arrange some things."

"Thanks," Leland said, and he hung up the phone. Then he turned to Link.

"Mr. Mallard says he'll do it," he said. "But he wants Mr. and Mrs. Kelso to call him so they can make the arrangements."

And that was all there was to it. Marcia gave the Kelsos Drake's number, and they made all the necessary arrangements. The funeral was about a week later. Link and Marcia called Sabrina to baby-sit for Greg while they went. Leland was going with them, although Link and Marcia weren't too sure if that was such a good idea, but Drake managed to talk them into it.

"I think it's nice that he wants to see his friend off, as it were," he said.

Link nodded. There wasn't much to say at this point. Leland and Gosalyn in the meantime, were standing in the front hallway, not really doing much of anything. Leland was grinding his foot into the carpet, and Gosalyn was swaying back and forth.

"I think this is the first time I've ever seen you wear a dress," Leland said. He knew Gosalyn was a tomboy, and hated wearing dresses.

"I only wear them for weddings and funerals," Gosalyn replied. "Last time I wore a dress, it was to my mom's funeral."

Leland nodded, but said nothing. He knew Gosalyn's mother had been killed in a car crash, and he knew that it was hard, not only for Gosalyn, but for her sister, and for Drake as well. In a way, he knew how she felt, and Gosalyn knew how Leland felt about Derek's death.

"How are you hanging?" Gosalyn asked.

"I dunno," Leland said, shrugging. "It's all happening so fast, you know?"

"Yeah, tell me about it. When my mom died, everything happened so fast, too. I hate funerals."

"Then why are you coming with us?"

"Moral support."

"You haven't told anyone at school, have you?"

"Not yet."

Leland nodded. For some reason, he didn't want the other kids at school to know about Derek. He could just hear Rocco now, probably saying something about how Leland would be next. He shuddered at the thought of it. But before he could dwell on it, Link walked over, and put his hand on Leland's shoulder.

"Okay, guys, let's go," he said.

"I think I need a push," Leland said.

Link sighed, picked Leland up, and started to carry him out to the car.

"You okay?" he asked.

Leland shrugged. Link nodded. There really wasn't much for them to say. Drake and Gosalyn were pretty quiet about it, too. The ride to the funeral home seemed to take forever, due to the silence. When they finally got there, Link, Marcia, and Drake went directly to Mr. and Mrs. Kelso. Leland and Gosalyn sort of just stood by the casket, just looking at Derek, and saying nothing.

After awhile, it was time for the burial. Drake stood and sang his rendition of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven." Other than Drake singing, it was pretty much a quiet event.

About a week after the funeral, Leland went back to school. He wasn't saying much to anybody, and the others noticed he wasn't really focused on anything. At recess, he mostly sat on the black top, and scribbled on it with chalk (Carson Elementary allowed the kids to draw on the blacktop with sidewalk chalk, as long as it wasn't offensive). Rocco came by dribbling a basketball right on Leland's scribbling.

"Hey Leukemia Lizard," he taunted. "Whatcha drawing?"

"Nothin'," Leland mumbled, not really paying attention to Rocco.

"You're a regular Picasso," Rocco replied.

Leland shrugged, and continued his scribbling. Rocco decided to take it one step further, and he rubbed his foot against Leland's scribbling, smearing it, and nearly wiping it off the blacktop. Then he smirked obnoxiously. Leland said nothing, and started over.

"Huh, didn't even flinch," Rocco said.

"Knock it off, Rocco," Gosalyn said, coming over. "Leave him alone!"

"What's the problem?" Rocco said. "He didn't even react!"

"Just cut it out, okay?" Gosalyn grabbed the basketball away from Rocco and dribbled it back to the basketball court, where she and Rocco had been playing with Braker and Gretchen. Montgomery and Julie walked over to Leland and sat down on either side of him.

"Hey, what's up?" Montgomery asked.

"Nothin' much," Leland said.

"You know you're starting to drop your G's," Julie commented. "I think you and Mike are hanging out together too much."

"Yeah," Leland said, absently. He started to draw X's on the blacktop with his chalk, just for the heck of it.

"You know you've been kind of out of it lately," Montgomery said. "What's going on?"

"Nothin'," Leland said. "Well, nothing I want to talk about anyway."

"You sure?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Leland said. Then he sighed, stood up, and started back into the building. It was almost time for his medicine, and he had to go to the nurse's office to get it.

Julie and Montgomery got up and walked away in their own directions. Julie went back to playing hopscotch with Tina and Leslie. Montgomery went to play on the jungle gym with Zipper. As all that was going on, Carlene Winters, one of Maureen Sullivan's snooty friends, came walking along the playground, looking for Maureen and the others. As she was walking, her five-year-old sister, Hannah, ran up to her.

"Carlene, Carlene!" she shouted. "Guess what I just heard Michelle Mallard say!"

"I don't care, Hannah," Carlene said. "I'm not interested in kindergarten baby gossip, especially from dumb old Gosalyn Mallard's dumb old sister."

"But it's about Greg Lizard's big brother."

That intrigued Carlene. Like most of the kids at CES, she enjoyed teasing Leland, and she never got tired of it.

"What's the gossip?" she asked. "And how do you know Greg Lizard, anyway?"

"I heard Michelle Mallard talking to Susie Moose, and Tommy Olsen was hanging around, and Greg Lizard's in Tommy's class."

"Okay," Carlene said, nodding. "So let's hear it!"

Carlene bent down, and Hannah whispered what she had to say in her sister's ear. Carlene giggled, and skipped around the playground.

"I've got a secret! I've got a secret!" she sang. Maureen and her friends heard her, and ran over to her.

"What's the secret?" Corrie asked, as she and the others flocked around Carlene.

Carlene giggled, and whispered what Hannah told her to her friends. All of them giggled, and ran all over the playground, spreading the gossip. Of course, Carlene did it in her own fashion, which most of the other kids on the playground found extremely annoying.

"I've got a secret! I've got a secret!" she sang.

"So who cares? So who cares?" Gosalyn asked, in the same sing-song voice Carlene was using.

"Don't you want to know my secret?" Carlene asked. "It's really juicy!"

"I don't care if it's extra crispy!" Gosalyn shouted.

"Let's go," Montgomery said, and he and some of the others walked off.

Carlene stamped her foot, and pouted. She hated it when the other kids didn't want to know her secret. In any case, she continued skipping along the playground and chanting her "I've got a secret" song.

Rocco was shooting baskets when Brittany came up to him, and whispered something in his ear. He dropped the basketball and just looked at her.

"You're kidding!" he shouted.

Before anything else could happen, the bell rang, and everyone filed inside to their classrooms. Leland was already there, since he went back to the classroom after he took his medicine. He didn't feel like going back outside. Mrs. Lee was writing on the chalkboard at the time the kids came back inside and started to sit down. Rocco walked in, whistling a tune. Montgomery looked at him oddly.

"What's with him?" he asked Ronnie.

"Beats me," Ronnie said, with a shrug.

Rocco went to his desk, pulled out a pencil, and walked over to the pencil sharpener, which just so happened to be close to Sharon's desk (in the front, that is). Leland was catching up on a reading assignment when Rocco stopped at the pencil sharpener, stuck it in, and began turning the handle.

"Hi, Leland," he said.

"What did you call me?" Leland asked, looking up at Rocco.

Rocco didn't say anything, and continued sharpening his pencil.

"I noticed you haven't been in school for a week," he said. He was acting like he was discussing the weather. Leland didn't like it.

"Feeling okay?" Rocco asked again.

"Uhh, yeah, I guess," Leland said. He was being very wary of Rocco right about now. He knew he was a little naïve, and extremely dopey, but he could tell Rocco was up to something.

Leland wasn't the only one who was noticing Rocco's behavior. Sharon was keeping an ear on the conversation. She pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled furiously on it. She folded it and wrote "Give this to Gosalyn" on it. Then she passed it behind her to Billy. Billy passed it to Leslie, Leslie to Lolly, and Lolly to Gosalyn. Gosalyn unfolded the note and read it.

Something's up. Rocco is acting a little weird.

Gosalyn glanced over at Rocco, who was still sharpening his pencil. He had this look on his face, a look Gosalyn knew only too well. He was clearly up to something. Gosalyn often got that look on her face when she was trying to sneak cookies from the cookie jar.

"So Leland," Rocco said, and he paused for what seemed like an eternity. "Too bad about Derek, huh?"

Leland suddenly dropped his book, and looked up at Rocco. Rocco had never met Derek, and the only kids in the class that had met him were Gosalyn, Montgomery, Julie, Ronnie, and Dotty. Leland never talked about Derek to the other kids, either, and only Gosalyn knew that he died about a week ago, and he had asked her not to tell.

"How did you . . . ." Leland started, but he found he couldn't finish the sentence.

"Yeah, too bad," Rocco said again, smirking. "But you know that's the way it is with cancer. You never know what it's gonna do. Anyway, just wondering how you were taking it. You know, with something this unpredictable, you could be next."

And with that, Rocco went back to his desk. Leland turned around, and looked directly at the back row, where Gosalyn sat. He glared so fiercely at her, she was taken aback. Leland stood up, and stormed right up to Gosalyn's desk.

"You told, didn't you?" he asked.

"What?" Gosalyn asked.

"You said you wouldn't tell anyone about Derek until I said you could!"

"Leland, what are you talking about? I never told anybody except my dad!"

"Then how come Rocco knew about it?!"

"I don't know."

That wasn't good enough for Leland. He knew Gosalyn well. He knew that she could barely keep a secret, she hardly ever kept any promises she made, and she tended to lie at times to get out of a sticky situation with her dad. For some reason, he just didn't believe her.

"I can't believe you told, Gosalyn!" he shouted.

"I didn't!" Gosalyn retorted, sending a glare at Rocco that could kill a herd of elephants.

Leland didn't want to hear any of it. He just ran from the classroom at top speed. Gosalyn got up, and raced after him, just as the bell rang.

"Mrs. Lee!" Lolly yelled, waving her hand in the air. "Leland and Gosalyn just left the classroom after the bell rang without permission!"

"Lolly, do you always have to be such a tattletale?" Woolma asked.

"Thank you, Lolly," Mrs. Lee, who had heard Leland and Gosalyn shouting (how could anyone miss it?) said, and she walked in front of the blackboard, and began teaching the science lesson for the day.

Rocco was completely stupefied. He was sure both Gosalyn and Leland would get in trouble for this. Then he thought that Mrs. Lee was going to give it to them when they came back. He had once tried running out of the classroom before the bell could ring to retrieve something he left on the blacktop, but he ended up racing out as the bell rang, and Mrs. Lee gave him a good chewing out.

In the meantime, Gosalyn was standing outside the boys bathroom, banging on the door with her fist. She knew she couldn't go in there. And in any case, she couldn't go in even if she could. Leland was leaning against the door, blocking it.

"Come on, Leland, let's talk about this!" Gosalyn shouted.

"What's there to talk about?" Leland asked. "You can't keep a secret! The only reason I told you was because Mr. and Mrs. Kelso wanted your dad to sing at the funeral!"

"I know I can't keep a secret, but I didn't tell anybody, except my dad!"

"Then how come Rocco knew?"

"I don't know!"

Leland didn't say anything after that. He wasn't going to believe her for a minute.

"You can't stay in there all day, Leland," Gosalyn said.

"Yes I can!" Leland retorted.

Gosalyn was about ready to scream. She had to think of a way to get Leland out of the bathroom and back into the classroom. The problem was he wasn't going to listen to her. Suddenly, Gosalyn got an idea. If Leland wasn't going to listen to her, she would have to find someone he would listen to, and she knew just the person. She ran to the principal's office, and stopped at the secretary's desk.

"Gosalyn Mallard?" she asked. Gosalyn had been to the principal's office time and time again, so the secretary knew her. "I don't recall Mr. Forrester sending for you."

"He didn't," Gosalyn said. "It's sort of an emergency. I need to use the phone to call the studio where my dad works."

"All right. What do you need him for, anyway?"

"Well, I don't need my dad. I need one of his friends."

The secretary looked a little confused, but she didn't go into it. Gosalyn dialed the number, and waited. After the second ring, someone picked up.

"Screen Gems, Nesmith," Mike said.

"Mike, thank goodness you picked up," Gosalyn said.

"Gosalyn?" Mike asked, feeling a little confused. "What are you doin' callin' here? You need your dad or somethin'?"

"No, nothing like that," Gosalyn said. "I actually need you to come down here."

"What for?"

"Well, it's like this."

Gosalyn explained everything to Mike. She knew Leland would probably be angrier with her for telling Mike about Derek, but at this point, she didn't have any choice.

"I was thinking you could talk to him, because he won't listen to me," Gosalyn said, finishing up. "And he might listen to you because he idolizes you."

"Well . . . . okay, but I can't promise anythin'," Mike said. "I'll be over there as soon as I possibly can."

"Great. Come to my classroom. I'll be waiting there for you."

"Okay."

Gosalyn hung up and went back to her classroom. Mrs. Lee was waiting for her.

"Where's Leland?" she asked.

"Holed up in the boys bathroom," Gosalyn said. "He won't come out, but I think I've taken care of it."

Mrs. Lee nodded, although she was a little confused. Then she turned towards the class.

"All right, you guys," she said, in her "No-Nonsense" tone of voice. "Apparently, you've all heard what happened, and apparently, only Gosalyn was supposed to know about this secret."

Some of the kids started to squirm a little. The only ones who didn't were Zipper, Montgomery, Julie, Tina, Dotty, and Lilly. It was obvious to Gosalyn that they didn't hear the secret, and if they had, they didn't spread it around the school.

"I want to know who started this rumor," Mrs. Lee said.

"Well, Gosalyn was the only one who knew," Catchum said, shrugging. "She must've told someone!"

"I did not!" Gosalyn shouted.

"And I happen to believe her," Mrs. Lee said. "We'll start with you, Catchum, since you were so kind to bring it up. Who did you hear this from?"

"Well, I heard it from Bingo," Catchum said, shrugging.

"Lolly told me," Bingo said. "And she told Braker, Flora, Leslie, Jennifer, and Billy, too."

"I got it from Rudyard," Lolly said. "And he told me, Ronnie, Bernice, Bobby, Angela, Colin, and Gretchen."

"I heard it from Ellen Armbruster from Mrs. Fields' class," Woolma said. "And she said she heard it from Maureen Sullivan."

"Figures," Julie groaned.

"Okay, Rocco, how did you find out?" Mrs. Lee asked.

"I heard it from Maureen's friend, Brittany Kline," Rocco admitted. "And she said she heard it from Carlene Winters, and Carlene said her sister told her. She said her sister heard it from Michelle Mallard."

"WHAT?!" Gosalyn shrieked. "I'll kill her!"

Gosalyn didn't think her little sister would have heard any of what had been going on. Drake and Gosalyn had talked with each other about the funeral, and Michelle had apparently been eavesdropping. She was as sneaky as Gosalyn at times. Before anything else could happen, the classroom door opened, and Mike stuck his head in.

"Hi, Mrs. Lee," he said. "Listen, mind if I borrow Gosalyn for a minute?"

"He's here to try to get Leland to come out," Gosalyn explained.

"Go ahead," Mrs. Lee replied.

Mike and Gosalyn left the classroom, and went down the hall. Gosalyn knocked on the door.

"Leland, have you come to your senses yet?" she asked. "Or are you still in there?"

"I'm still in here," Leland said.

"Are you gonna come out of there, or what?"

"Nope."

Gosalyn threw Mike a glance, as if to say, "see what I mean?" Mike sighed, and decided to take a stab at it. He knocked on the door.

"Lee, come on, open up," Mike said. "You know you can't stay in there all day!"

"But Mike!" Leland started.

"I know cancer patients get special treatment at school and stuff like that, but really, there are gonna be quite a few people who are gonna be pretty darn disappointed in you if you stay in there all day."

"Like who?"

"Oh I dunno. The principal, your teacher . . . . your parents!"

Mike took a step back, and Gosalyn followed. The door flew open, and Leland ran out of there, faster than he had ever ran before. One thing Leland hated was his parents lecturing him, starting with the words "I'm very disappointed in you." If Mike hadn't reached out and grabbed his arm, he would have hit the wall.

"Whoa, hold it," Mike said. "Slow down a little there. Now that you're out, let's go for a little walk, all three of us."

Leland shrugged, and followed Mike and Gosalyn out to the schoolyard. They went over to the swing set, and Gosalyn immediately sat down and started pumping. Leland climbed on one as well, and Mike started to push.

"Now before you say anythin'," Mike said. "I want you to know that Gosalyn told me what was goin' on, only because I needed to know in order to set you straight."

"Yeah, and he's the only one I told," Gosalyn said. "Other than my dad."

"Well if you only told Mike and your dad," Leland said. "How come Rocco and everybody else knew?"

"Because my stupid little sister has a big mouth," Gosalyn said. "She told Montgomery's sister, and Julie's brother happened to be around, and so was Carlene Winters's stupid little sister, who's in the same kindergarten class as my sister."

Leland thought that over. He didn't know much about Gosalyn's sister, Michelle, but he did know Carlene Winters was known to be a big blabbermouth.

"So Carlene probably told her friends, and they, in turn, spread it all over the playground," Gosalyn finished. "Seriously, I had no idea Michelle was listening to me and my dad when we were setting the thing up."

Leland nodded. That made sense. He climbed off the swing, and started walking for the building.

"Now what are you doin'?" Mike asked.

"Going back to class," Leland said. "Come on, Gosalyn."

Gosalyn jumped off the swing, and followed Leland back into the classroom. Mike sighed, and started to leave the school yard.

"Kids," he said.

Gosalyn and Leland went back to their classroom, and sat down. Mrs. Lee was writing on the chalkboard. When she was finished, she faced the class.

"So is everything settled?" she asked.

"Pretty much," Leland said, nodding.

And that was all there was to it. A few days went by. Things were pretty much the same around school. Rocco still bugged Leland. The other kids were talking about him behind his back. Leland was used to it. He didn't let it bother him. At least not the whispering and gossip. Rocco was starting to drive him crazy however.

"Maybe you should change your name to Luke," Rocco said one day as the student body of Carson Elementary was filing out of the classroom. "You know, short for Leukemia."

"Very funny," Leland said. "Listen Rocco, why are you continuously bothering me about this? For the millionth time, it's not my fault that Mrs. Lee lets me sleep in class!"

"But you're still the teacher's pet," Rocco persisted. "Mrs. Lee lets you do anything you want. You get to skip tests, you get to sleep in class, you get to skip classes . . . ."

"Rocco, would you please knock it off? You're starting to drive me crazy!"

"Short drive."

Leland was about ready to lose it. He took a deep breath and tried to ignore Rocco, but it wasn't easy.

"Okay, Rocco," Leland said. "I've had just about enough of you. If you don't knock it off, I'm gonna slug you!"

Rocco burst out laughing at that. As far as he knew, Leland never slugged anyone in his entire life. He was usually too chicken.

"Okay," Rocco said. "Go on and slug me. I dare ya! You can't throw a punch! You couldn't even throw a decent punch before you got sick!"

A crowd had started to gather around Rocco and Leland. They had heard Leland shout that he was gonna slug Rocco and everyone wanted to see if he was actually going to do it. Nobody had ever slugged Rocco. He was the toughest kid in the entire school. And Leland knew it. Rocco began walking around Leland, flapping his arms and clucking like a chicken.

"Come on," he said. "Lay it on me! Bwak, bwak, bwak, bwak!"

Julie got a nervous look on her face and ran off to find Mike. She knew he'd be coming along soon. The kids had softball practice that day. She just made it to the fence when Mike was rounding the corner, carrying some softball equipment.

"Mike! Better get over here now!" Julie shouted.

"What's up, Jules?" Mike asked, coming over.

"Rocco's at it again. Leland said he was gonna slug him if he didn't stop, but I'm kind of worried that Rocco's gonna slug Leland. You're the only one that can stop them!"

Mike didn't waste any time. He dropped the softball stuff, and climbed over the fence. Then he followed Julie over to the playground, just in time to hear the sound of a fist hitting a face, and hard.

KA-POW!

"Ooohhh!" Mike cringed, covering his eyes with his hand. "I don't think I want to look!"

"You might want to, Mike," Julie said.

Mike looked through his fingers to see what had happened. When he saw what was going on, his jaw nearly made a dent in the pavement. He looked at the scene, wide eyed.

"What the . . . ." he said. "I don't believe it!"

"I warned you, Rocco," Leland said. He looked positively steamed.

Rocco was on the ground, dazed. Leland had followed through with his threat and slugged Rocco right in the eye, turning it black and blue. This had to be the first time in Carson Elementary School history that someone had given Rocco Rabbit a black eye.

"Didn't know ya had it in ya, Lee!" Mike shouted.

"I didn't, either," Leland said, a little surprised at his actions.

Leland wasn't the only one surprised. Mrs. Lee was just coming out of the building when she saw Leland punch Rocco.

"Leland, both you and Rocco come here," she said, in her no-nonsense tone. "You boys know I don't approve of fighting on school grounds!"

"Ooooohhhhhh," the rest of the kids teased as Leland and Rocco walked towards their teachers.

"Okay, guys, break it up," Mike said. "Show's over. Let's go."

All the kids left the school yard. Some of them had to get to softball practice. Leland and Rocco both got detention for fighting. Leland didn't care. To him, detention was worth it. He finally was able to get Rocco off his back.

A week after Leland gave Rocco his just desserts, he went out of school again. The kids figured it was probably because of his leukemia treatments. This went on for about a couple of weeks. One morning, the kids walked into the class room and saw Mrs. Lee taking things out of the desks again.

"Rearranging again, Mrs. Lee?" Montgomery asked.

"You might say that," Mrs. Lee replied. "Sharon and Lilly, you can have your regular desks back."

The kids glanced at each other, and took their seats. Mrs. Lee started the class once the bell rang, without so much as an explanation or anything.

After school let out, Gosalyn and Julie went to Screen Gems, looking for Mike. When they got there, they heard Indian music being played, and they smelled incense burning.

"What's that?" Julie asked.

"Mike's meditating," Bob explained coming over. "You girls need something?"

"We wanted to talk to Mike about something," Gosalyn said. "Where is he?"

"Oh, back there somewhere," Bob said. "Sitting cross legged on the floor, eyes closed, and chanting."

Gosalyn and Julie looked at each other, and they walked over to the direction Bob had indicated. They found a mat on the floor, a record player with a record going on in, playing the Indian music the girls heard when they came in, and they saw the burning incense, but Mike wasn't around. The girls found that a little strange, especially since they knew Mike wouldn't leave a record player running.

"Well, where is he?" Gosalyn asked.

"Hey, Gos," Julie said. "Look up."

"Huh?"

Gosalyn looked up, and there was Mike, floating in the air, nearly to the ceiling. He was wearing a hippie-esque outfit, and changing "oohhhmmm" as he floated. He was so deep in concentration, he didn't even realize he was floating, at least not until he hit the ceiling.

"Ouch!" he shouted, and then crashed to the floor.

"Mike, are you all right?" Julie asked.

"I don't care what Peter says about meditation bein' relaxin'!" Mike yelled. "If ya ask me, it's just one big headache!"

"Hey, Mike, we need to talk to you," Gosalyn said.

"What about?" Mike asked, turning off the record player.

"Well, Leland hasn't been in school for awhile," Julie said. "And since your cousin baby-sits for him and his brother after school, we thought you might know where he was."

"Well, Sabrina told me somethin' about Leland gettin' treatments at Rampart or somethin'," Mike said. "She didn't know the details. I'll tell you kids what. I'll check into it for ya as soon as I can."

"Okay, thanks!" Julie said, and she and Gosalyn ran off.

Mike sighed, and started his record over. He sat down on his mat, crossed his legs, and began concentrating.

"Ohhhmmmm," he said. "Ohhhmmm. And I'd better not be floatin' up at the ceilin' this time . . . ."

Bob happened to hear that last one, and was amazed at Mike's concentration.

A few days later, Mike finally got around to calling the Lizards' house. Marcia picked up the phone when he did.

"I promised the kids I'd check in on what's goin' on," he said. "They haven't seen Leland for a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, he's been on treatments," Marcia said. "He's been in and out of Rampart a lot lately."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Well, he's doing a lot better than he was when he was first diagnosed."

"I guess that's better than nothin'. Hey, put Lee on, would ya? I want to talk to him."

"Oh he's over at Rampart right now getting a treatment."

"Oh."

Mike and Marcia talked for a little while longer, and then hung up.

Several more weeks went by. Mike hadn't heard anything from the Lizards in awhile, and neither had anyone else. Mike decided to drop by Rampart just to see what was going on.

"Hey Dix," he said when he walked up to the front desk. "What's happenin'?"

"Not much," Dixie said. "Dr. Brackett isn't in today, Mike, so you won't have a chance to bother him."

"Well, I didn't need to see Dr. Feelbad anyway. Actually, I was lookin' for Leland Lizard. I have reason to believe he's been in and out of here constantly."

"You're reasoning is correct," Dixie said. "But Leland happens to be out of here. He was released a couple of days ago."

"Well, where is he now?"

"My guess would be his house."

"Thanks."

Mike left Rampart and went straight to the Lizards' house. He rang the doorbell about three times, but nobody seemed to be answering. He resorted to taking the doorknocker and whacking it against the door as hard as he could.

"Hey, Mike?" Catchum called from next door. "They're not there. They left about an hour ago."

"Oh," Mike said. "Glad you said somethin', I was about ready to break the door down! Any idea where they went?"

"Beats me. Probably to the medical center or something."

"Medical center? Don't you mean Rampart?"

"No, medical center. I asked Leland where he's been for the past month, and he said he was going in for treatments at some medical center downtown as well as going in and out of Rampart."

Mike nodded. He knew of several medical centers downtown. All he had to do was use the ol' sixth sense to help him locate the one he was looking for. He closed his eyes, put his fingers to his temples, and started walking. He got a lot of strange looks as he did (as he often did whenever he was using his sixth sense to track things), but Mike didn't notice. People on the street wondered how he managed to walk around with his eyes closed without bumping into trees or lamp posts or things like that. Actually, Mike did hit them, but that was only when his psyches were overtired. One thing none of his friends was able to understand was his magic tended to die out from time to time, but his psyches never did. Mike didn't have an explanation for that one.

In any case, as he was walking downtown, his sixth sense gave him the signal to stop, so he did. He opened his eyes and saw a four story building, with a sign in the front reading "Carson County Children's Medical Center." He was about to go inside when his sixth sense started going off again.

"Oh come on," he said, looking upwards. "First ya signal me to stop here, and now you're signallin' me to turn around and walk that way? Will you make up your mind up there?"

Mike really didn't know who he was kidding. He yelled at his psyches all the time, but they never answered back. Not verbally anyway. There were times Mike thought his mind had a mind of it's own. In any case, he sighed, and started walking in the direction his sixth sense was signaling him to go in.

When Mike's sixth sense stopped him again, he was at a playground across the street from the medical center. He knew it well. A lot of the kids from the softball team hung out there a lot. He started walking around when he heard the unmistakable sound of the swings in the distance. He turned to look, and saw Leland on one of them, swinging as high as possible, almost going right over the bar. Greg was on another swing, going pretty high, but not as high as his brother. Mike ran over to see if he was seeing things.

"Hey!" he shouted. "What in the world are you doin' goin' that high, Lee?"

"Hi, Mike!" Leland shouted, slowing down a little. He jumped off the swing in mid-air, and managed to land on his feet.

"You know you did that while your mom was right there?" Mike asked.

"I know," Leland said. "But we've got great news!"

"What's that?" Mike asked, though he had a pretty good idea what was going on.

"Leland is officially in remission," Marcia replied.

"And he's got more energy than he ever had before he got sick," Link commented.

"Isn't that great, Mike?" Leland asked, jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean. Mike had to grab him to hold him still for a minute.

"Whoa, slow down there!" he shouted. "Watchin' you jump around like that is startin' to wear me out!"

Leland laughed, jumped back on the swing, and began pumping his legs so he could go higher and higher, and maybe swing right over the bar. Mike laughed and watched for awhile. Something in his sixth sense went off then, but this time, it wasn't a bad sign. It was just telling him that even though Leland still had a long way to go before he beat this, he was going to come out of it just fine.

The End