"Shirley, are you ready to come out and talk?" Mother knocks faintly on the door.
I roll onto my side and grump, "No. Leave me alone."
An hour passes. I hear my dad come home from work. Mother and Father talke. Finally, another knock disturbs the silence, besides my wheezing.
"Honey, Kellie is here. Can she come in?" I hear my dad ask me through the door.
"Yes. She may," I whisper quietly.
Light pours into the room as Kellie walks in. She is carrying something. A big, large bag.
"Hey, Shirley. I heard the news. How are you feeling?" she asks.
"What do you think?" I snap. That's rude, I think.
"Well, clearly you're sad. Are you still going to the dance?" Kellie soothes. I love Kellie.
I sit up swiftly and look at her drowsily. She has a pleading, gentle look in her eye. I look away, scared.
"I don't know. I don't want my lungs to get overworked with dancing. Now that I know I have cancer, it's worse." I mumble.
Kellie rolls her eyes in an annoyed fashion, "Shirley, your lungs aren't any different than when you didn't know you have-" she stops.
"Go on."
Kellie hesitates, then goes on reluctantly, "The point is, you should still come. You do realize it is mostly going to be slow dancing, right?"
After ten minutes of persuading, Kellie finally convinced me to go. We decided that we would meet at the shopping center to go shopping for dresses.
As Kellie heads out the door, I say, "Wait, Kellie! What's in the bag?"
Kellie turns bright pink.
"Oh, um, I stopped by Gerald's house on the way here," she stutters.
I roll my eyes, annoyed, and say, "Okay, why? And what is in the freaking bag? I would love to know!"
Kellie takes a deep breath, something I am envious of and starts to speak, "It's a present. For you. From Gerald. He feel sympathy for you. He said he might come with us to go shopping. He wants to ask you something. Here."
Kellie hands me the bag carefully. It's heavy, so I set it down on the bed beside me and face it. Kellie is still here.
"You can go," I say and she stumbles out of the room.
I reach into the bag and pull out a tiny cardboard box. I open it and pull out a beautiful sapphire bracelet. "My birthstone," I whisper. It's silver and studded with perfectly round beads of sapphire. I slip it on. It feels cold and refreshing on my chubby wrist.
The next think I pull out is wrapped in tissue paper. I carefully unravel it. Cocooned inside is a thick, berry red, old Dell laptop. I open it and I see the screensaver. Gerald and I. I remember that day. We were four and still didn't understand that our bodies are private. We had been running around naked in a creek. That is one of my favorite days.
There are two more things in the bag. I pull them both out. A purple teddy bear and a card. I cuddle the silky bear and open the envelope. The card has a cat on it. The caption says,"You are purr-fect just the way you are! I love you and please get well soon!"
A tear forms in my eye as I read the card:
Dearest Shirley,
Remember that day at the beach when we ran around naked and I told you that I love you? Well, I want to tell you that one thing again. I love you. I love you soooo much. I have since our moms met when they were pregnant with us. Anyways, your mom called my parents today and told us about the cancer. I was heartbroken. I had been having this gift bag for you since I was 11. I decided that this is the right time for me to give it to you. In it, I have include a bracelet, a laptop, a grape dyed teddy bear, and this card. I love you. I hope you get better, because I will be heartbroken if you leave this side of the world.
Love and wishes,
Gerald
I cry for a couple hours after that, clutching my gifts.
