"Listen up, Bones. You're gonna tell me what's going on. RACK Productions has shut down until you spill the beans." "Are we talking about baked beans or lima beans? It matters because—" "Bones!"

     He looked down and then very slowly looked back up. "I've got lymphoma."

     "Stop trying to duck the question, Bones, or I'm gonna kick you right in the shins and you're gonna LIMP all the way HOMA. Now tell me what's going on with you!"

     "Lump. Lymphoma. It's cancer. I've got cancer."

     We looked at each other in silence for a whole minute. I guess it was my turn to say something, but I had no idea what to say. So I just said what I was thinking.

    "That's just plain stupid! How could you have that? You're thirteen! You don't smoke, do you? Maybe you do smoke, I mean, you speak Spanish, and I didn't know that!"

     He smiled and looked at me matter-of-factly. "You know what I say to cancer, Lump? I say, ‘Bite my dust'!"

     Challenge Question!

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