"But it would be fun, don’t you think? To ride bikes along the edge of the tracks, and if we got tired and a train came by we could grab onto, you know, those railings that the hobos hold on to hitch rides, and we could relax and just fly along!"
It was obvious to Edward that Deenie had let herself set her heart on going. It happened that way a lot, just on a simple statement he’d make.
"Oh Edward, come on! We can do it, you know, and don’t say no because I’m too little."
"It was just an idea, Deenie," he said. "I’ve done it before, and it takes too long getting back."
"Who cares? I don’t have to come back." She paused, her eyes grew darker. "Don’t want to either. Oh let’s!"
"Tsk. Shouldn’t have mentioned it. We can’t." he said.
"PLEASE! Please," she said in her most pleading way. And then she stuck out her lower lip in a pout–the one thing her best friend Edward could never resist. "We must! You’ve done it before and went all the way across England. I want to do it too."
"No, Deenie. It’s too dangerous. Go to sleep and forget it." He turned to climb off her bed.
"But you did it!" she cried as he skipped away from her.
"Yes," Edward said, and as he hopped inside her closet and started to pull the door shut, "but I died."
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology