"You don't look so happy today," he said. Taylor saw the big grin spread across her face.
"Oh no you don't," he replied, jumping off the bed and backing away.
"Taylor Hanson, you are dead," Ashley said, giving him a smug smile.
"Ashley, please no!!"
It was too late. Taylor was on the floor laughing hysterically as Ashley tickled him. He doubled over, trying to hide his stomach from her.
"Taylor, quiet down!" Mrs. Hanson called from downstairs.
Ashley allowed him to get up, and scooted away from him.
"The only reason I let you up is because I didn't want to make your mom mad," she told him.
"You are such a liar," he said, smirking. "How's your mom?"
Ashley shrugged. "The doctors say she's in remission. It means that they think the cancer went away."
The information that she had been about to tell Taylor last year, before she heard his and Jenni's conversation, had been about her mother. Her mom had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, which wasn't such an uncommon thing but could still kill her mother. Taylor had found out later that night from his own mother about Ashley's news which had never been delivered. It had devastated the Phillips family, who had been waiting to have a second child until their income was more stable. Not only could it mean death for Mrs. Phillips, but it also meant that she would never be able to have that second child they had wanted. The chemo and radiation that she would undergo would completely destroy her reproductive system.
"So, does that mean she's better?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah," Ashley agreed. It was quiet for a moment. Ashley suddenly giggled.
"What's so funny, little girl?" Taylor asked.
"Who you callin' liitle? I'm taller than you and I'm older than you," Ashley said.
"Hey! You only turned 9 yesterday. It's not like you're that much older than me," Taylor argued.
"You are so jealous," Ashley told him.
"What am I jealous of?" Taylor asked.
"The fact that I'm older than you," Ashley said, smirking.
"That is such a lie," he said defensively.
"Oh. Well then you're jealous because I get to take ballet lessons and you don't. And I know you really wanted to," Ashley said in a sing-song voice.
"Oh no. That's it," Taylor said getting to his feet.. "You are so dead."
Taylor picked Ashley up and threw her onto his bed. He pounced on her and began to tickle her mercilessly.
"Hey!! I thought I told you two to keep it down up there," Mrs. Hanson shouted again.
The two nine-year-olds burst into fits of giggles for no reason.
"You two sound kinda goofy to me, hun," Martha said, combing out her hair again.
"Well, probably because we were..."
