E.T. Pen's Death

Yesterday Beth (4th grade?) asked me, "Where is E.T. pen?" I explained that it had died, so she responded by crossing herself and pretending to pray. Oh come on! It is a little sad, though--I've been using that pen for quite a long time, but the ink is almost too light to see now and I don't think it can be refilled. The top doesn't fit properly anymore, either. The pen came to identify me and was yet another of the jokes that I shared with my students. They would point at E.T. on the pen, "Teacher! It's E.T.!" and I would hold it up to my face and respond, "No, it's me!" as I did E.T.'s 4-fingered wave and gave my best impression of his stupid grin. E.T.=English Teacher in my classroom! As some of the kids liked to point out, foreigner and alien mean the same thing, so it's pretty fitting that my pen have an alien on it, too.