One<br >Ethan Winfield straightened his shoulders as he stood<br >against the measuring tape on the back of the kitchen<br >door， trying to make himself taller. He placed his hand<br >on top of his head， glad for once of the blond cowlick<br >that refused to lie flat. Then he turned around and<br >checked where his fingers had touched the tape. Four<br >feet， ten and a half inches.<br > Still four feet， ten and a half inches. He hadn t even<br >grown a quarter of an inch since his mother had made<br >the most recent mark on the chart back on his twelfth<br >birthday， two months before， in November.<br > Ethan let his eyes fall on the tape again. His brother，<br >Peter， was only two years older than he was， but at<br >fourteen， Peter was a full eight inches taller. "Of course<br >Peter s taller. He s two years older!" Ethan s mother<br >had told him the last time she heard him complaining<br >about his height. But when Peter was twelve， he d been<br >"