<span style="color: #FFFF00">Ethan Drake Black</span>really did love the people who lived and worked here they were always nice to him and he rarely had to defend his work or prices but then he was always fair. Accepting the check he gave her a genuine smile and said softly, "thank you ma'am," as he watched her take the keys. Her parting words were met with, "be careful out in this awful weather Mrs. Warrender, I want you to get home safe and sound now," he stated as he walked with her towards the entrance of the building and looked out on the growing storm.<br/><br/>He always did worry about the older folk of his home, and well ok that wasn't true, he worried about anyone he knew really. Ethan was one of those rare soft hearted males who really did have a giant heart. With a soft sigh he turned to head back to what he had been doing previously when he heard the footsteps coming into his garage. Turning around to see who it was he gave a bright smile. Elena was the woman who taught his children and they adored her and for that he would always go out of his way for her. After everything that had happened Elena had really been there for them. And in a way for him.<br/><br/>The long conversations about the children, his children, the reason for his whole world to exist, had really helped him see their state of mind and how they behaved around others since the loss of their mother. How those conversations had turned to how his children were adapting and getting better. He owed her the world he thought anyways. She had taken the time to invest in them. Something he had hoped would happen with a strong female figure for them. Every children needed a mother figure to look up to. Especially a young girl. He had known they had been a handful, but he hadn't known how to help them. She had. And for that he was eternally grateful.<br/><br/>He couldn't help the smile that spread across his features, "Good morning Elena! and please it's Ethan," he said in greeting. "Of course please come in. I have coffee and tea if you'd like a cup? I think I still have some of those biscuits that Mrs. Liedecker made the other day for me," he added as he led the way back towards his small but clean and adequately furnished office. He was always getting some sort of baked good from the women in town whenever they came to the garage. It was almost as if they thought he needed some fattening up, and he guiltily enjoyed this. "I hope that you are well?" he asked opening the door. After all she shouldn't be here, she should have been at the school. Which meant she was either sick or someone else was sick or something else had happened and that worried Ethan.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">-- - -- - --</div><br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">Sarah Black</span>glared in open disdain at the teacher before her. "I read this already, can I read something<span style="font-style: italic">else</span>now?" she asked. Though her voice was polite and her tone just above a whisper. Her normal speaking level. It was clear that Sarah did not like this teacher even a little. For that matter Sarah did not like anyone with the sole exception of Elena. Everyone else was viewed as someone to be distrustful and weary of until she knew them. She would be cold and though she wasn't like Alan in that she didn't overly disrupt her class. She didn't exactly listen either or make it easy on a teacher.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">Alan Black</span>couldn't help the laughter that erupted from him. Trust Sarah to have already read the lesson and be demanding politely to read something else, which really meant something more interesting. His laughter didn't last long though as he planned how best to prank the new teacher. Since he hadn't known she would be here, his normal fall backs (replacing the chalk with wax, putting tacks on her seat, putting glue under all her papers, and putting bugs in her desk drawers) were all out of the question. He would need to find new and much more innovative pranks to launch at this new teacher that didn't involve prep work. He had a few up his sleeve. That thought made his smile widen and would have terrified any adult who knew him as it meant he had nothing good planned.