April 16, 1985

Elliot Taylor sat at his desk in Astronomy class paying rapt attention to his teacher Mr. Rosner. It was a known fact around the school that Elliot paid more attention than any of the other kids. He had been this way ever since he had last been visited by his otherworldly best friend, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial at Christmas in 1982 and he was now in eighth grade and he loved learning higher levels of everything he had learned about previously. He loved history, biology, geometry, chemistry, and he even did good in mathematics, but his favorite subjects of all were astronomy and science for he wanted to impress Keys, who was now not only dating his divorced mother but had become like a second father to him, and he also wanted to honor E.T.'s memory with it for he had shown more about the truth than any human teacher ever could, though Mr. Rosner was a close second.

"So," he was saying at the end of his discourse, "because the sun's rays take three-million years to reach the Earth when we look through the Hubble Space Telescope we can actually look back in time."

"Can we see into the future, too?" asked Elliot curiously.

"I suppose so," his teacher replied. "If we were on a distant planet. But I don't think we'll ever be able to travel back in time like in the movie Back to the Future," he added referring to everyone's favorite movie this year.

Elliot was just about to ask another question when he suddenly felt something poking him from behind his head. He looked around and saw a paper airplane lying on the floor by his chair. He picked it up and unfolded it. There was a message written on the white piece of paper and he read it out loud.

"I'm a nerd."

The rest of the class which had until now been looking just bored now erupted in raucous laughter, especially Murray Findelmyer who sat across from Elliot and he pointed his finger at Elliot as he laughed at him much to the displeasure of him and to the teacher.

"Silence!" he snapped. "Mr. Findelemyer I will be seeing you after class!" he said to Murray angrily.

Elliot slouched down in his seat. He had just been reminded that although he was one of the smartest kids in school he was also one of the least popular. He supposed it was the price that came with knowledge that E.T. had mentioned, but he had also said things would get better eventually for people like him, but waiting was hard to do.

Another thing that was hard for him was his physical education class which he had at the end of the day. He was never good at anything in this area, unlike his older brother Michael who was now in senior high school and was also a star at football and track, while Elliot couldn't kick a football far if his life depended on it, and he also could just never run fast enough before tiring himself out.

Today they were climbing by hand to the top of a long rope. Elliot watched in fascination as Ben Neslie clutched onto the rope and maneuvered himself upward with his feet and bare hands until he was very close to the very top.

"Well done, Ben!" said the coach as everyone applauded. "Now it is your turn Elliot."

Elliot gulped as he took hold of the rope and gripped it as tightly as he could.

"On your mark, get set, go!" the coach said.

Elliot tried hauling himself upward but the rope was too hard and thick and also rough on his hands and he kept slipping and he had only gone up three and a half feet when he suddenly looked downward and almost at once plummeted down to Earth on his backside.

All the class laughed at him when he fell, especially Murray Findlemyer.

"I saw London, I saw France, I saw Elliot's underpants!" Joan Pliers shrieked, and thus making everyone laugh even harder.

"Quiet! Quiet!" exclaimed the coach. "Never mind, Elliot," he added softly. "You'll find your strength someday.

Elliot hung his head as he walked to the back of the line feeling like a total wimp.

As he walked out of the school building later in the afternoon he noticed Erin walking by him. She was tall and slender with long blonde braids hanging down her back and she was also the girl he had kissed on a sudden mysterious impulse three years ago. He had apologized to her about as soon as he could and she had said it was alright but to never let it happen again. She caught him looking at her and she smiled and waved. He waved back thinking of how pretty she looked walking in the sunlight.

He went over to the bike racks to get his bike which he always rode to and from school on. However, Murray Findlemyer was there waiting for him and as soon as he was in reach he reached out and grabbed by the straps on his backpack and forced him to the ground.

"Because of you I've got detention!" he roared as he continued to pummel him into the earth. "You're not going anywhere until you give me all your money!"

"I don't have any!" Elliot screamed.

Murray turned him upside down and shook him as hard as he could and a single quarter fell out of his jeans pocket which he had forgotten all about.

"Well, what do you call this, then!?" he exclaimed as he grabbed the quarter from Elliot's grasp and then kicked him in the face. "You're a nerd, a wimp, and a liar! Is this your bike?" he asked taking hold of the handlebars of Elliot's bike.

"Yeah... wha...?" Elliot muttered feeling tenderly of his jaw where Murray had kicked him.

"Then thanks for loaning it out to me!" he exclaimed airily as he hopped onto its seat and pedaled fast away down the sidewalk.

Elliot sat in the dirt with tears streaming down his face adding salt to the wounds Murray had given him. His bike had been a prized possession of his for his dad had given it to him and he had also flown on it with E.T. twice and now Murray had took it from him and possibly forever. He stood u shakily and stumbled along the sidewalk as he sobbed all the way home.

When he finally arrived home it was almost evening. He opened the door and found his ten year old sister Gertie sitting in front of the TV watching The Smurfs and his seventeen year old brother Michael was on the phone apparently talking to his girlfriend.

"Sure, tomorrow night sounds great!" he said happily into the phone.

Elliot found his mother was in the kitchen standing over the stove preparing dinner and when she saw him come in she quickly put everything down and rushed at once to his side.

"Oh my God! What happened to you and why are so late?" she inquired worriedly as she inspected his facial injury.

"Murray took my bike," was all Elliot could get out through his throat which was aching from sobbing so much.

"Oh dear! No!" Mary sighed as she led him upstairs to the bathroom where she began to wash the bruise on his face with soap and water.

"I hate school!" Elliot exclaimed as she began to apply disinfectant to his hurt skin which caused it to burn. "Nobody likes me there, they say I'm a wimp! I wish I had left with E.T. in his spaceship and gone with him to his home. I bet everyone there is a lot nicer than they are here!"

Mary felt her heart breaking at his words. She had to remind him he was still loved and wanted here in his own home. "There is plenty of love for you right here in this house," she said as she tenderly bandaged up his cheek. "There really are good and kind people in this world, they just get hard to look for sometimes," she continued. "We'll get your bike back soon. Why don't you call Keys and tell him about it." She added as an afterthought, "And I'm sure E.T. wouldn't want you to feel this way. He's probably sad that you're so sad right now."

Elliot began to think about E.T. He was not only his best friend he was his mentor and his soul mate. When he had first seen E.T. he had been afraid of him but when he had met him properly he had known instantly there was something very special about him, more so than any person on Earth. Now it seemed like it was written in the stars for them to meet and be saved by each other. He could still feel him with him all the time, for he was forever tuned into his mind and his heart and most of the time he could feel he was perfectly happy, he just wished he could be so himself.

He went into his bedroom and stood by the window. He could see the first stars were out now and the sky was growing dim. He studied the stars for a moment and tried to imagine which one E.T.'s home revolved around. He remembered when E.T. had said he would always be right here for him, and just a call away. He wondered just how true that was.

"Hi, E.T.. It's me, Elliot," he said directing his speech toward the stars. "I hope you're not too busy right now, but I wanted to tell you I miss you and I wish you were here now. My life really stinks right now and my bike got stolen, the one you and I went flying on before, remember? So... if it's not too much trouble for you, could you come back again and help me get it back, and not just because of it, but also because I would really like to see you again." He sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Goodnight, E.T.."

He sat at his desk and took his homework out of his backpack and got himself busy with astronomy. A couple hours later he was startled to hear a mysterious humming noise which sounded almost like music. He looked up and was shocked to see the baseball on his desk rise up into the air and spin around, then he saw the flowers in the pot nearby blossom into full bloom. Then a bright yellow light came in through the window and flooded the room with its brilliance.

Elliot gasped. He knew what this had to mean. "He's come back!" he whispered.

He leaped up from his chair at the desk and rushed to the window beside it. He could see the bright light rising above the treetops over the houses and he could just make out the silhouette of a round blue object floating over them.

Without another second's thought he raced downstairs and grabbed his jacket that was hanging by the door and rushed outside. He ran into the garden beside the house where he saw the lights descending and stopped short as he watched the spaceship land slowly and gracefully onto the soil and as the hatching doors opened a gangplank was lowered down. A small figure appeared in the light of the opening in the ship, it waddled slowly down the gangplank in the shadows attracting more light as it descended.

"E.T.!" Elliot gasped as he recognized him the moment he was face to face with him.

The gentlehearted little alien smiled serenely at him and held out his finger. "Ouch," he said as the tip of lit up.

Elliot smiled understanding. "Ouch," he replied as he extended his own finger toward him and theirs fingertips connected.