Brodie is always making people laugh. He wiggles his ears and yodels like a country singer and tells far-out jokes. He's a brilliant artist, too: he draws loads of planes and helicopters, because he wants to be a chopper pilot. Everyone at school knows that Brodie is ill, and when he's in hospital they all send him cards. But they never think he'll die. When he does, it's a shock and it hurts - and the hurt doesn't go away. It does get smaller, though, and while his friends don't stop missing him they know it means that Brodie is still alive in their hearts.