"Jessica, it's time to get up honey."

Jessie rolled over in her bed and faced the door where her mom was standing. Her mother's hair was pulled back into a long, loose braid and she was wearing a dark maternity dress. "Mommy, I'm tiiiired," she whined.

"Sweetheart, we have the funeral today, remember? Avery is already up. Now it's time for you to get up, too." Her mother walked away and Jessie was left to stare up at the ceiling. She pulled the covers over her head. The last thing she wanted to do today was go to this funeral. Everybody would be depressed and she didn't feel like dealing with depressed people. "Jessica! I said get up!"

"I'm up, I'm up!" She rolled out of bed and sat for a minute at the edge. Zac walked in wearing an untucked dress shirt and slacks.

"Everybody's dressed you know. We're gonna be late because of you."

"So, that wouldn't be so bad."

"Do you know how to tie this?" Zac held up his tie and waved it in front of her.

"Why would I know how to tie that? You're a guy, you should automatically know how to tie it."

"Yeah, right. I'll go ask Ike." He turned to leave but then paused and turned back. "This is gonna suck, you know that."

"Tell me about it."

She watched her older brother walk away, trying in vain to tie the tie around his collar. Slowly she got up and started to go through her closet for the dark blue dress her Mom had told her she had to wear. It was the only dress she had said was "appropriate" for the occassion. Why do people have to dress in dark things? she thought. It just makes it even more depressing. She doubted that the Mortons would have wanted everyone to walk around in such a rut, all gloomy and sad, wearing dull colored clothes and crying. She wouldn't want that.

Once she was dressed and had brushed her hair she headed for the kitchen. She was surprised to see that the entire family had already eaten and they were just sitting around talking. The TV wasn't on like it usually was in the mornings. There wasn't even a radio on. Her father was speaking quietly about what was going to happen today. Everyone was listening attentively. She sat down at the table and poured herself a glass of orange juice.

"Well, look who finally decided to join us," her father said when he noticed her. "Jessie, you need to come hear this too."

Jessica brought her glass over to the living room and sat down between Taylor and Mackie.

"Now guys, I know that today is going to be very hard on you, more so for some of us." Walker glanced over at Tay. "But I want to let you all know that God is with us and He is with the Mortons too. We are sending them off to heaven today."

Jessica pictured the Mortons, one by one, flying into a puffy white, glowing cloud. She wondered whether they had seperate places for kids and adults in heaven, and whether you got to play with other children up there. And what do you look like in heaven? Do you look the same? What does a soul look like?

"It's alright for you to cry. This is very sad and nobody is going to judge you if you do. Okay, before we leave, I want to say a quick prayer."

The family held hands and closed their eyes. Jessie wrapped her fingers around Taylor's hand, which was cold. She felt him shaking. "Dear Lord, we ask You today to get us through this with the strength I know we have. Please accept Your children into heaven and help those who they left behind to cope and understand. Protect them and protect all us who will join You today in Your house. In Jesus we pray, Amen."

Jessica opened her eyes and returned to the kitchen. She sat at the counter and gulped down the last of her juice. From her seat she saw her father pull Taylor aside. She knew it wasn't right to eavesdrop, but she strained her ears anyway.

"Taylor, you don't have to sing this song if you don't want to. You know that, right?"

"I know, Dad. I want to," Tay whispered. Jessie could hardly make it out.

Her dad looked up and saw her staring and she quickly shifted her eyes back to her empty glass. "Come on Jessie, it's time to go."

All the way to the church the van was silent. The radio was left off and nobody uttered a word. Not even the usually talkative Mackenzie made a peep. He just sat in his seat quietly fiddling with a Power Ranger action figure. The van pulled up to the church where people were already starting to file in. Jessica noticed that nobody was talking much, and everybody's faces looked old and worn, even the young people.

"Jessie, move." Taylor gently pushed Jessica to get out of the van.

"I'm going, I'm going." Jessica jumped out and took a deep breath. It was a beautiful day today; too gorgeous for what they were about to do. She stood outside waiting for her mother to get Mackie out of the car. In front of her, Avie grabbed Isaac's hand and they started to walk towards the church. She looked behind her at Taylor who was leaning against the van staring at the sky. Jessie's heart sank. It wasn't often that she really talked with her older brother. They chatted about silly things, like what was on TV, or how much work they had to do for their lessons. But they never talked about anything important. In a way, she felt as if she really didn't know what was going on inside him. Before today, she hadn't even thought about it or even cared. But looking at him standing there, she felt closer to him than she had ever felt before. All she wanted to do was make him feel better, but Jessie knew that there was no way to do that. Tay seemed to return to reality and started to walk away from the van. Jessica moved in front of him and started to say something.

"Jessie, I'm not in the mood, okay?"

"No...I mean, nevermind." She shuffled out of the way and he walked ahead.

The Hansons sat in the middle of the church. Isaac had set his guitar up front for when they were to sing. Jessica managed to barely squeeze into the pew next to Taylor. It seemed like an eternity before the service began. For about an hour, a preacher rambled on about life and death and everlasting joy. Jessica pretended to listen. Then some relative of the Mortons got up and gave a speech about how they were wonderful and caring people. She knew that if something didn't happen soon, she was going to fall asleep. She layed her arm on the side arm of the pew and yawned. Slowly, her head drifted down and landed on Tay's shoulder. Taylor looked down at her and saw his little sister fast asleep. He didn't wake her and he didn't move her.

Jessica felt somebody pushing her to the side. She opened her eyes and saw Taylor, Zac, and Isaac standing up and moving out into the eisle. It took her awhile to collect herself. She looked down at her watch. She hadn't realized that she had been asleep for a half an hour.

Up front, Isaac slung his guitar strap around his shoulder and Taylor prepared himself in front of the microphone. Zac's eyes scanned the crowd of mourning people. This was not their usual performance venue. Jessica strained to see her brothers. Then, Isaac started to slowly strum out a chord. Taylor didn't look up until he began to sing. When he did, his eyes closed. He breathed every inch of himself into the first note. And their song began...

Dear God, I have a question weighing on my mind
It's a question that I've thought of time after time
Why do innocent angels, for this world you create
Sometimes end up hurting and filled with so much hate

(Refrain)
Dear God I need an answer to my thoughts and my cares
I need for you to answer my hopes and my prayers
Why do you take some angels before they've had a chance to live
And why can't some do all they should, when they have so much to give

Dear God, I have a problem that I need for you to clear
Why do problems sometimes rob children of their cheer
Why do people face nightmares that rob them of their faith
Of your neverending love of everyone in every way

(Refrain)

Dear God, can you help me to dry these tears I cry
Why are some angels never given wings to fly
You haven't hurt this angel, who really loves you so
But you've hurt some angels that I love, some angels that I know

(Refrain X 2)

After the last note was played the crowd was silent. Isaac and Zac headed back to their seats. Taylor slowly followed but looked back at the three caskets. He walked with his head down and sat next to Jessica. His eyes and face were red, but he wasn't crying. Jessie watched him intently. She was sure he was going to notice and get mad, but he didn't say a word to her. Soon, the Mortons' funeral would be over.

Zac stretched out in the treehouse and ripped off his tie. Kevin sat beside him spreading out a pile of Legos. "Didn't we already build this castle?"

"Come on, Zac, since when do you not want to tear apart and rebuild your creations."

"Okay, but this one isn't my favorite. Hey, let's make three towers this time instead of four and then we can use the extra ones for, like a fortress or something." Zac crossed his legs and began to sift through the pile of building blocks.

"Your mom's not gonna be mad that we aren't down there with the rest of the people, is she?"

"Nah. She won't even notice we're gone. She's too busy and stuff."

Down below in the Hanson's home were the 200 people that had been at the funeral. They had agreed to host them because Rebecca's grandmother was in no condition to handle the responsibility. Zac couldn't stand that their house was filled with so many people. He longed for a quiet day at home, especially since this was their last day at home. Tomorrow afternoon, they would board a plane for New York to start their promo tour for Snowed In. Walker had decided that the tour would help everybody get their minds off the tragedy and get the kids back into a better mood. But this wasn't how Zac wanted to spend his last moments in Tulsa. They would be gone for more than a month and this left things on a sour note.

"Hey! What's happening in your house!" they heard from down below.

Zac looked over the side of the treehouse and saw Manda staring up at him, her braces shining in the sun. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious, I guess."

Zac turned back towards Kevin. "Yuck, it's Manda," he whispered.

"That rude girl next door?" Kevin whispered back.

"Yeah. But Mom is gonna be mad at me if I don't shut her up." Zac once again looked down. "Just come up and be quiet okay."

Slowly, Manda made her way up to the top of the treehouse. "Wow, this is neat. So, what's going on."

"A funeral dummy," Kevin quipped.

Zac gently hit Kevin in the arm. "Yeah, it's a funeral. The girl on the other side of us, you know Rebecca."

"No, I never met her, but I heard about the car accident at school. That's so sad. Did you know her and stuff?"

"Of course we did. I mean she only lived there for, like, ever." Zac rolled his eyes. He had to admit he was being even meaner to her than he meant to be. He looked down at his Legos and began to peice together one part of the castle's bottom.

"Nice suit." She stared at him for a moment and then started to pick at his clothes. "What kind of fabric is this?"

"Huh? How should I know? Girls are weird." He pretended to be interested in the castle, but slyly looked up at her to see what she was doing. "Hey, Kev, pass me the white peices."

"You know, my mom says that you guys are talented and stuff...I don't know if I agree with her though."

"Look, if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all," Zac flinched when he realized he sounded like a carbon copy of his father. He rolled down and layed on his stomach.

"My friend...she freaked when she found out I knew you. She thinks you're hot and stuff and she wants me to get your autograph for her. And then she wanted me to have you call her and maybe stop by her website. She has, like a whole site dedicated to you guys. Can you believe that some people can be so obsessed?"

"They aren't obsessed, Manda. They are just fans, okay."

"They are obsessed. I mean, what's so special about you guys anyway?"

"Hey, you're just jealous of them," spouted out Kevin, who had been surprisingly quiet up until then.

"Why? I don't want to be in a rock band."

Zac sat up and stared her in the eyes. "Manda, you picked the wrong day to be rude, 'kay. I am not in the mood."

"Sorry," she said in a quieter voice. She retreated back and leaned against a branch. "I always say the wrong things."

"You can say that again," Kevin mumbled. The three remained quiet for awhile.

"If you put that peice over there then it would make a good support for the drawbridge."

"What?" Zac looked up at her.

She moved closer to the Legos. "This peice. See, it's longer than that one and will give the drawbridge more support, when you put it on that is."

"Oh, yeah," he said when he grabbed the peice.

"I've done this one before, I think."

"Do you have a lot of Legos?"

"Well, my whole family went to Denmark one summer. There's this place called Legoland that we went to. It was so cool. It had the whole Mount Rushmore all made out of Legos. And they had this big American Indian figure made out of Legos. I mean it was huge." She smiled and continued to explain the park. "And there was this ride...well it wasn't actually a ride. You got to get in this little car and it looked like it was made out of a huge Lego piece, but it really wasn't. Anyway, it actually drives and everything. And it wasn't on a track either. There was this mini town with streets and a gas station and a train stop and stoplights and everything. I got to drive around it for 20 minutes. It was so cool."

Zac listened in amazement.

"Well, we got a lot of Legos when we were there, seeing as that's where they were created and everything."

"I think I heard of that place. You know that's where my family is originally from. I mean, that's what we are."

"Denmarkian?"

"That's not what you call it. I forget what you call it. But there are supposed to be a lot of 'Hansons' there. Or actually, spelled different...'h-a-n-s-e-n.'"

"Do you know what your name means?"

"I used to know."

"Well, I think it's like 'son of Han' or something. But I don't know who or what Han is."

"Han Solo?" Zac said and started to laugh.

"Yeah! You're the son of Han Solo! No...no, you're the son of Chewbacca!" Manda giggled and tried to picture Zac covered with fur.

"Zac! Get down here pleased!"

"Oh, no, it's my dad." Zac looked at Kevin who was deeply involved in building a tower. "Okay, Dad! I gotta go. We aren't even supposed to be up here."

The three climbed down, leaving the pile of Legos scattered on the floor. Manda came down first and watched as Zac jumped down from the fourth step up. "So, you have to go in?"

"Yeah, we have to 'pay our respects.'"

"Look, I'm sorry if I said stupid stuff, I didn't really mean to." She swayed back and forth nervously.

"Nah, forget it. I'm used to that kind of stuff."

Manda walked away and Zac watched her. He felt a tap on his shoulder. "Zac, that girl is strange."

He turned around and looked at Kevin. "Yeah, I guess."