Three Losses, One Second Chance

Chapter 3: A Dream Like a Farewell

In the silence that had settled over the classroom, Ethan walked in, crossed the aisle, and sat down at his desk.

Perhaps it was because he seemed so matter-of-fact about the whole thing, or perhaps it was because he gave off an indescribable aura, his face completely expressionless, that the atmosphere froze for a moment.

Mr. Hoffman glanced at him, went on with his lecture, and the class settled back into order until the end of the period, as if the incident had never happened.

However, as Mr. Hoffman left the classroom with his books, he glanced in Ethan's direction and thought: Forget it. Ethan Carter is just a mediocre student in this class. He'll probably end up at some third-tier college or go straight into the workforce. He's not worth saving.

Besides, the kid has grown quite tall, almost six feet. In a real fight, I might not be able to take him, and it would only embarrass me. I'll let him off the hook for now.

Mr. Hoffman had barely stepped out when Danny Brooks, who also sat in the back-row "peanut gallery," came over, threw an arm around Ethan's neck, gave it a tight squeeze, and looked at him with newfound respect. "You were pretty cool today! You really made me proud!"

Danny was his best friend. They had known each other since childhood, having grown up in the staff housing beside the Channel 8 studios. When they were kids, Danny's dad had even insisted that he acknowledge a godfather.

Danny's dad, Walter Brooks, was a radio host at the local station. He had once hosted the business news show and had been quite famous in the '70s and '80s. Danny's mom had worked at the same station, but she later ran off with a wealthy businessman from out of town, and after that his dad fell into despair. Still, he hadn't ruined his son. Danny hadn't gone astray or picked up any bad habits. At most he was a little playful and mischievous, much like Ethan.

Moreover, his father probably felt somewhat indebted to him, so he never held back when it came to money. As a result, Danny had lived well from a young age, wearing Nike and Adidas and owning all the latest gadgets: a Sony Discman, a film camera, a Nintendo 64. Ethan had benefited a great deal from this.

Since Danny was always the one treating him, Ethan cheerfully called him "Dad" and "Godfather," and Danny in turn took on the air of a leader and quietly adopted Ethan as his little brother.

Later, Danny went into the video game industry, failed miserably, ended up millions of dollars in debt, and withdrew from everyone. He refused to see Ethan. One year, on a whim, he sent Ethan a text saying he'd found a great barbecue place near his home and would treat him when Ethan came back to town.

After that, there was no further communication.

Good grief. So that barbecue had been waiting for him here all along.

Ethan pulled the arm off his neck. At this age, teenagers often take pride in challenging a teacher's authority, as if it shows a courage the others lack. Little do they know that to more mature, well-behaved students, such behavior only looks childish and foolish.

But Mr. Hoffman was different. For one thing, he was the homeroom teacher. Even the most rebellious kids held themselves back in front of their homeroom teacher, and their mischief was usually aimed at subject teachers.

For another, Mr. Hoffman was very good at disciplining and handling people. His authority had been established since the day these kids started as freshmen. Even the sons of politicians and department heads knew that their fathers treated Mr. Hoffman with great courtesy whenever they invited him to dinner. No matter how spoiled they were, they kept their distance, because if Mr. Hoffman reported them, their fathers would really tan their hides.

That made Ethan's stunt all the more impressive.

In their eyes, Mr. Hoffman had clearly been unfair, and Ethan had the guts to break that injustice and even overpower Mr. Hoffman with sheer presence.

So it wasn't only Danny. The people around him crowded in too, giving him thumbs-up and teasing him.

Just as the figures around Ethan were shifting, he keenly sensed something. Through the gap between two people, he looked toward the front row in the center of the classroom and saw a pair of slender, bright eyes.

They were cat-like eyes, with an elegant, slightly upturned corner, sometimes lazy and sometimes sharp.

At this moment, those eyes were fixed sharply on him. The instant Nora saw Ethan, her nose and brows scrunched up, and the corners of her lips curled into a silent tsk, as if warning him not to forget what he had done.

The warning was neither fierce nor frightening, though. To a man with a lifetime of experience like Ethan, it even carried a touch of girlish arrogance.

"Uh-oh... what's going on?"

Danny, who had taken everything in, said, "You got beaten by your mom because of her the day before yesterday, and you've already forgotten? Then again, it was her birthday, and you installed a bunch of sketchy games on her computer, filled it with viruses, crashed the whole thing, and even broke her crystal figurine!"

Case solved! No wonder Margaret Carter had said this morning that he forgot the pain as soon as the wound healed, and that he was too stubborn to ever learn his lesson. So that was the root of it.

Right, he remembered now. Nora Hale. She could be counted among the kids who had grown up alongside the "three companies and four institutions."

The so-called three companies and four institutions referred to the three companies at the corner of Maple Street and Fifth Avenue: Halvorsen Manufacturing, a shipping company, and a department store.

The four institutions were the television station's staff housing, the city employees' apartments, the Arts Council's housing, and the engineering firm's employee apartments.

Most of the children in this residential area went to nearby schools, from public preschools and company-run daycare centers to elementary and middle school. They mixed together, were classmates, knew one another, and their relationships were tangled together.

In later years, people would talk about the six degrees of separation theory, which says you're connected to anyone in the world through only six people. Apply that here, and you could probably trace the connections through two or three.

Besides, people back then didn't move around as much as they would in later years. Many families lived in housing provided through their parents' employers, so the mix of kids in a neighborhood barely changed. They had known many people since childhood, and everyone was familiar with everyone else.

Halvorsen Manufacturing and the television station's staff housing were close together, and kids from both sides were always darting back and forth.

Ethan had met Nora when he went over to Danny's house to play in sixth grade.

Of course, even before that, the name Nora Hale had been constantly on his mind. From a young age, she had practically been a little goddess among the kids of the three companies and four institutions. She had blossomed into a beauty even as a child. In kindergarten, little boys would steal candy and their mothers' gold rings from home just to give to her, which once made her the talk of the neighborhood.

In elementary and middle school she had been a sensation, taking part in school pageants, dance recitals, and talent shows, and was almost always front and center. Needless to say, she had plenty of admirers.

But she didn't have the typical delicate, dainty features. Instead, her face had a sharp, almost handsome quality. Her slender, slightly upturned, cat-like eyes carried a kind of heroic spirit. Hers was a beauty that could hold its own in a crowd, not just a pretty face.

They had met at Danny's birthday party, where he had invited countless friends of all ages. Little Ethan had only heard her name for years.

But that day had seemed so ordinary. They ran around outside playing cops and robbers.

Nora got tired and sat down on the edge of a flower bed to rest.

Ethan, who had fallen behind, looked at her like she was a fairy and went over to sit beside her. She paused for a moment, then suddenly held out her hand. "You must be Ethan Carter! I've heard Danny talk about you a lot. You're pretty funny!"

Good grief. Ethan had never imagined he would be remembered by Nora Hale for his sense of humor. He wondered what Danny usually said to her. Danny, I'm your father!

He hadn't expected her to be so generous, though, or her hand to be so soft.

Later, Ethan often recalled this first meeting.

Once, he dreamed of her. She was still there, sitting on the edge of the flower bed like a fairy.

Before he could even sit down beside her, an alarm clock jolted him awake.

A long dream.

A long dream indeed.