Part 1

~

God has been so good

Blessing me with a family

Who did all they could

And I’ve had many years of grace

~

I first met Grace Myers when I was just a baby. Her parents had been living next door to mine for two years already, and our mothers had become good friends. Grace’s mother was pregnant with her while I was a baby, and she was born almost a year after me, on January 18, 1976.

Living next door, and having our mother’s be best friends, Grace and I saw each other a lot. We played together all the time when we were little kids. I don’t remember a lot of that, but there’s one fateful experience that I will never forget.

***

Twenty one years earlier

“Brian!” I heard my Mommy call. “Grace is here to play!”

I ran down the stairs to the front door, where my best friend Grace stood.

“Hi, Brian,” she said. “Look!” She grinned, and I could see a space in her teeth on the bottom. “I lost a tooth!” she announced gleefully.

“Really? Wow!” I had already lost my first tooth and had another wiggly one, but this was Grace’s first.

“Yup. I put it under my pillow, and the tooth fairy gave me money!” she exclaimed, producing two quarters from her pocket to show me.

“Wow!” I cried again. For a five year old in 1980, fifty cents was a big deal.

“So you wanna go play outside?” Grace asked.

“Sure, let’s go!” I cried, and we ran outside.

Grace’s tricycle was parked in the driveway. “Get your Big Wheels out,” she ordered, and I obeyed, hauling my Big Wheels out of the garage. I got on it, and Grace climbed onto her trike, and we rode in circles around the driveway for awhile.

“Hey, wanna have a squirt gun fight?” I suggested after awhile.

“Okay,” Grace said. “Let’s go to my house, and I’ll get my squirt gun.”

“Okay,” I said, and we rode out of my driveway and onto the sidewalk to head next door to Grace’s house.

“Wanna race?” she asked, as we got onto the sidewalk.

“Okay,” I replied. “Ready… set…” Before I said go, I took off, yelling “Go!” a few seconds later over my shoulder

“No fair!” she yelled, pedaling as hard as she could to catch up to me. She managed to come around from behind me and rammed the front wheel of her tricycle into my Big Wheels.

“Stop it!” I cried, trying to jerk away from her. I ended up pedaling right off of the sidewalk, my side wheel dropping off the curb and causing the whole bike to tip over, with me in it. I fell onto the side of the road, landing hard on my hands and knees.

“Bri, are you okay?!” Grace asked, hurrying over to me with wide eyes. “You’re bleeding!”

She pointed to my knee, and I saw that it was skinned. I began to cry loudly. Mommy must have heard me because she came running outside. “Brian, what happened?” she asked.

“I crashed,” I sobbed, pointing to my Big Wheels, which was tipped over on its side.

“Oh, come here, sweetie, it’s okay,” she soothed, scooping me up in her arms. “Let’s go get you a Band-Aid.”

She carried me into the house, where she sat me on the kitchen counter and put a Band-Aid over my scrape. Then she gave Grace and I each a cookie and sent us back outside to play.

***

Two weeks later

“Hi, Mrs. Myers. Can Grace play?” I asked politely from Grace’s doorstep.

Her mother smiled down at me. “Well, she’s cleaning her room right now, Brian, but I think she’s almost done. Why don’t you go up and see?”

“Okay,” I replied and climbed the stairs that led to Grace’s room, a place I had played many times before.

Grace’s room was all pink and lavender – girl colors. She had a bunch of girly stuff in it too. But besides all the Barbies and baby dolls, she had some good toys too.

As I walked into her room, I saw Grace sitting in the middle of the floor, a bunch of naked Barbie dolls sitting on one side of her, and a pile of Barbie clothes on the other.

“Hey, Grace, are you almost done?” I asked.

“Hi, Brian,” she greeted. “Yeah, I’m just dressing all my Barbies. Wanna help?”

I made a face. “No way. That’s for girls.”

“Fine,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me. “Then you just have to sit and wait.”

“Fine,” I replied, climbing on to her bed. Usually it had a bunch of stuffed animals on it, but they had disappeared, except for her teddy bear. “Hey, where’d all your animals go?”

“I put them in my closet. I’m a big girl now, and I don’t need them all over my bed.”

“Oh,” I said. “Well, what about him?” I asked, picking up her teddy bear.

She shrugged. “Curly can stay. He’s my favorite,” she replied.

I nodded, poking at one of the worn bear’s glass eyes and reminding myself to put away all my stuffed animals before Grace came over to my house so she wouldn’t think I was a baby.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Grace announced a few minutes later, putting all her newly-dressed Barbies away. “Let’s go outside.”

We went outside and found my eight year old brother Harry playing in the front yard. “Hey, Harry, wanna play hide and seek with me and Grace?” I asked.

“Well… okay,” Harry said. “I’ll be it. You guys go hide.”

“You have to run slow for us cause we’re littler than you though,” Grace told him.

“Okay,” Harry said, but I knew he wouldn’t, at least not for me. He never did. “Ready? 1… 2… 3…”

As Harry counted, Grace and I ran around to my backyard to hide. Grace hid under our slide, and I ducked behind a bush.

“Ready or not, here I come!” we heard Harry shout and waited nervously for him to come looking for us.

As Harry walked by the slide, Grace giggled. I shook my head in exasperation. Grace always giggled whenever the person that was it walked by. That’s why she always got caught.

“I see you, Grace,” Harry announced, and Grace screamed and ran out from under the slide, making a mad dash into the front yard. Harry chased after her a little ways and then stopped and turned back to look for me.

I sighed – Harry always tried to tag me before he got anyone else. When he had his back turned, I made a run for it. He saw me right away though and chased after me, running at full speed. I ran into the front yard and across the driveway, trying to get to the tree that was base before he could tag me, but I didn’t make it. He came up from behind and tagged me hard. I twisted my ankle and fell hard onto the driveway, knocking my head on the cement.

I started to cry right away – this was no little skinned knee. “I’m sorry, Brian,” Harry said, looking worried, probably because he knew he would get in trouble for pushing me, not because he was actually worried about me.

Grace came running up to me, at about the same time my mom came running out. “What happened?” she demanded, looking from me to Harry to Grace.

“We were playing tag, and Brian fell down,” Harry said, not looking her in the eye.

“Harry pushed him!” Grace accused, glaring at Harry.

“Harold,” Mommy said sternly. Then she knelt down beside me. “What hurts, Babyduck?” she asked.

“My head,” I moaned.

“Okay, let Mommy look,” she said, gently inspecting my head. Just then, my Daddy came out.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Brian fell, and I think he hit his head,” she said worriedly. “He’s not bleeding, but do you think he might have a concussion or something?”

“I don’t know,” Daddy said, studying me. “Maybe we should run him into the Emergency Room to make sure.”

“Yeah, I think we should,” Mommy agreed. “Brian, sweetie, we’re going to take you to the hospital, just to make sure you’re okay.”

“No,” I cried, shaking my head. “I don’t wanna go!” I hated going to the doctor, because I usually got some kind of shot while I was there, and the hospital sounded even more scary than that.

“Shh, it’ll be okay, honey,” Mommy soothed. “Okay, Grace, you go home now, and Harry, you get in the car. Harold, go get your keys, and I’ll get Brian into car.”

Daddy nodded and ran back into the house, and Mommy carried me to the car and gently put me in the backseat beside Harry. When Daddy came back, they both got into the front seat, and we were on our way.

***

When we got to the hospital, we waited around in this big crowded waiting room for what seemed like forever, while Daddy and Mommy filled out a bunch of papers. Then, finally, a lady came up to us, pushing a wheelchair.

“Hi, I’m Marilyn, and I’ll be your nurse,” she said to me. “Can I get you to hop into this chair for me?”

I didn’t want to, but Mommy lifted me into the wheelchair anyway. Marilyn pushed me down a hallway and into a little room with a bed in it. She helped me out of the wheelchair and onto the bed.

“Why don’t you get Brian changed into this gown, and I’ll be right back,” Marilyn said, handing Mommy something and leaving the room.

Mommy helped me put on that something, which turned out to be a thin pair of pajamas that tied up in the back. It was too big on me, and it felt weird.

Marilyn came back a few minutes later. “I’m just going to get Brian’s vitals, and a doctor will be in to see him soon,” she said, sticking a thermometer in my mouth.

“Okay,” Daddy said, as we waited for the thermometer to get done taking my temperature.

Marilyn took it out of my mouth and looked at it, squinting. “Hm…” she said, frowning.

“Is something wrong?” Mommy asked.

“His temperature is high. Almost 104 degrees,” she said.

“Oh, my goodness!” Mommy cried. “104?! How could that be? He was just fine this morning.”

“I’m not sure,” Marilyn said. “It could be an infection or something. We’ll have to wait for the doctor to examine him though. It shouldn’t be too much longer.”

Awhile later, another lady came in. This one was a doctor. I knew because she had a long white coat on and a stethoscope around her neck, just like the one I had in my toy doctor kit at home.

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Littrell, Brian,” she greeted, shaking Mommy and Daddy’s hands and smiling at me. “I’m Jacqueline Noonan, and I’m just going to examine Brian here.”

Dr. Noonan seemed nice, but I was still scared. All doctors were scary, no matter how nice they acted.

“So, Brian, can you tell me what happened?” Dr. Noonan asked, as she flashed a little bright light in my eyes.

“I was playing tag, and I fell down and bumped my head,” I told her.

“Oh, that’s too bad. That hurts, huh?” she asked. I nodded. “Was there any loss of consciousness after the accident?” Dr. Noonan asked Mommy and Daddy.

They both shook their heads. “No, not at all,” Daddy said. “He’s been pretty alert the whole time.”

“But when the nurse took his temperature just awhile ago, she said it was high, almost 104. What could be causing that all of a sudden?” Mommy asked.

“Yes, I see that on his chart,” Dr. Noonan replied. “Fevers have nothing to do with concussions, so that’s something else all together. As for the concussion, I doubt that he has one. Usually a fall from the ground doesn’t cause a concussion, and since he didn’t lost consciousness at all, I’m not worried. However, his fever could be cause for concern. 104 is unusually high.”

“Brian, I’m going to stick this down the front of your gown here so I can listen to your heart, okay?” Dr. Noonan explained, showing me her stethoscope. I nodded, and winced as she put it against my chest. It was cold! “Take a deep breath for me,” Dr. Noonan instructed, and I breathed in.

“Did you know that Brian has a heart murmur?” she asked Mommy and Daddy.

“What?! No, what’s that!?” Mommy cried.

“Don’t worry, it’s usually not serious. All it is an irregular rhythm of the heart. It doesn’t cause any problems itself, but sometimes it’s an indicator of a more serious heart problem.”

“Are you saying there’s something wrong with his heart?” Daddy asked.

Now I was really scared. I wanted to go home.

“Well, I’m going to run some tests and find out. You’re in luck because I happen to specialize in pediatric cardiology,” Dr. Noonan said.

Mommy nodded. “Okay,” she said.

“I’ll order some tests, and we should know what we’re dealing with pretty soon,” the doctor said, sounding optimistic.

I didn’t feel any better though. I was still scared, and besides that, I didn’t feel good either. I was tired, and besides my head hurting, my chest had started to hurt a little too.

“Mommy, when can we go home?” I asked.

“I don’t know, baby,” she said. “Dr. Noonan wants to do some tests on you first, before we know anything.”

Dr. Noonan had been talking on a phone on side of the room, but she hung it up then and came back over to talk to us. “Okay, first I want to run a chest x-ray, which is just like taking a picture of the inside of your chest, Brian. I’ll get Marilyn to bring a wheelchair in here, and she’ll take you to x-ray. It will only take a few minutes.”

“Can we go with him?” Mommy asked.

“It would be fine if you went with him, if your husband and son stayed here. But you can’t actually go into the room while the x-ray’s being taken because of the radiation,” Dr. Noonan said.

“Okay,” Mommy replied.

Marilyn, the nurse from before, came back a few minutes later and helped me into another wheelchair. Then we went down another hallway for the test Dr. Noonan had talked about.

***

By the end of the day, I was still at the hospital, and I was sick of being there. Some of the tests they had done didn’t hurt, but some were scary. I had needles stuck in my arms and all kinds of scary stuff.

I was watching cartoons on the TV in my room when Dr. Noonan came in.

“Mr. and Mrs. Littrell, could I talk to you in the hall for a minute?” she asked.

“We’ll be right back, sweetie,” Mommy said, kissing my head, and she and Daddy left the room.

I was all by myself. Daddy had taken Harry home awhile ago. He was staying with Grace’s family while I was at the hospital. I wished I could stay at Grace’s house too. It would be better than staying here.

It was a long time before Mommy and Daddy came back. When they did, they had funny looks on their faces. Mommy’s eyes were all red, and it looked like she had been crying. I had never seen Mommy cry before.

“Mommy, what’sa matter?” I asked.

Mommy sat down on the edge of my bed, and Daddy sat down in a chair. “You’re sick, Brian, and… and you might have to stay here for a little while until… until you get better.”

“Aw, I don’t wanna, Mommy,” I whined. “I wanna go home and play with Grace. We never finished playing hide and seek.”

“I know, honey, but you can’t right now,” Mommy said, squeezing my hand.

“No fair,” I pouted.

“I… I need to leave for a few minutes. I’ll be right back,” Mommy said suddenly, getting up and hurrying out of the room.

“What’s wrong with Mommy?” I asked Daddy. “Why is she so sad?”

“Well… she’s just… she’s just worried about you, Brian,” Daddy said. He looked really sad too. What was going on?

***

Later that night, Dr. Noonan came back to check on me. She stuck another thermometer in my mouth and listened to my heart again. I just wanted to go to sleep though. I was so tired, and I didn’t feel good either.

Dr. Noonan pulled the thermometer out of my mouth, took one look at it, and gasped.

“What’s wrong?” Daddy asked.

“His fever’s up to 107! I’ll be right back!” she cried, rushing out of the room.

“Oh, no,” Mommy moaned. “Oh, Brian…”

“What?” I mumbled, confused. Why wouldn’t they all just leave me alone? I was hot and sleepy, and everything ached.

Dr. Noonan came right back with a bunch of other people. Before I knew it, they were taking that weird gown off of me so that I was almost naked, except for my underwear. Then they hauled this big tub-thing into the room. I saw that it was filled with ice-water.

And suddenly, I was in that ice-water. “No!” I shouted, beginning to cry, as many pairs of hands held me down in the freezing-cold water.

“Is this really necessary?” Daddy asked, looking irritated, while Mommy looked about ready to cry again.

“Yes. We have to get his fever down right away, or it could cause brain damage,” Dr. Noonan said urgently.

“Mommy,” I cried, shivering in the water.

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry,” Mommy said, beginning to cry.

“Shhh,” Daddy said. “It’s okay, Bri, don’t cry. They have to do this to cool your body down.”

But I didn’t understand that. All I knew was that these people were trying to drown me or freeze me in this ice-cold water. I cried and tried to kick them away, but they held me down so I couldn’t even move.

Finally, they lifted me out of the water and lay me back on my bed, covering me with a sheet. I shivered beneath the thin sheet and cried for my Mommy. She stood beside me, stroking my hair like she always did when I was sick.

But just a few minutes later, I was picked up from the bed again and put back into the tub of water. Then after awhile, I was put back in bed.

As I lay on the bed, I started to feel really funny. My chest hurt, and I felt dizzy. Suddenly, I felt like I was falling, and then everything around me turned black.

***

“Brian? Brian?”

I could hear Mommy softly calling my name, and I struggled to open my eyes. When I did, everything was blurry, but slowly, my Mommy’s face came into view.

“Mommy,” I said. My voice sounded weird, all soft and hoarse.

“Oh, Brian!” Mommy gasped. She looked ready to cry again. What now?

I looked around. I was in a different room now, lying in a bed and wearing another thin gown. The tub of ice-water had disappeared, but there was even more scary things in this room than there was in the other one.

There were big machines by my bed that made little beeping sounds. One had little wires coming out of it that hooked to little white round things that were stuck to my chest. There was also something in my nose. I wrinkled my nose and tried to reach up to see what it was, but my hand felt heavy. I could barely lift it.

“How do you feel, honey?” Mommy asked.

“Sleepy,” I mumbled.

“Okay, sweetie. You can go back to sleep now if you want. I love you.”

“I love you too, Mommy,” I said and drifted back off to sleep, having no idea what I had been through.

***

The next time I woke up, I felt a little better, and I could move around more without feeling so weak and tired. Taking another survey of the room, I noticed lots of flowers and cards on some shelves hanging on the wall and some stuffed animals too.

“Where are all those from?” I asked.

“Oh, lots of people, sweetheart,” Mommy said. “Grandma and Grandpa, and some people from church, and Grace’s family, and the other neighbors, and all kinds of people. You had a lot of people praying for you, Babyduck.”

This confused me. I was used to saying prayers in church and before I went to sleep at night, but why would people pray for me? I had no idea what had been going on.

“Am I still sick?” I asked Mommy.

“Yes, but you’re getting better,” Mommy said. “God was watching over you, Brian. It was a miracle.”

I nodded, still not fully understanding. Someday I would.

“Here, do you want to look at some of your cards?” Mommy asked, getting them down from the shelves and setting them on my bed.

I nodded and looked through the cards, and Mommy read them to me. They were all Get Well cards with smiling teddy bears and things like that on them. Then Mommy got down all the stuffed animals and gave them to me.

There was a stuffed duck from Mommy and Daddy, since they called me Babyduck, and several teddy bears from people. The last one Mommy handed to me was different from all the rest though. It wasn’t a new teddy bear. It was old and well-loved and didn’t have that “new” smell to it.

“Curly!” I cried, recognizing the old bear. It was Grace’s teddy bear!

“Grace brought that for you,” Mommy said. “She heard you were sick and thought you might like to have it. She said it always helps her feel better when she’s sick.” Mommy’s eyes looked all shiny, and I hoped she wasn’t going to cry again. I hated it when she cried.

“Don’t cry, Mommy,” I said. “It’s alright.”

“I know, sweetie,” Mommy sniffed. “It’s gonna be alright, isn’t it?” She bent over and hugged me tightly. “It’s gonna be alright.”

***

One week later

A few more days had gone by, and I was still at the hospital. I was in another different room now though, and the scary machines were all gone.

I just had one thing beside by bed, a tall pole with a bag on it that had a tube that went into my arm. My nurse, Marilyn, told me it was called an IV and that it was to give me medicine. At home, I just had to chew up icky pills or swallow gross-tasting stuff, but at the hospital, they insisted on doing it the hard way and shoving a needle into my arm to give me medicine. I just didn’t get hospitals.

That day, I got some visitors. I had been having visitors all week, my Grandma and Grandpa and my Uncle Jerald and Aunt Ann and some other relatives. But this was different. That day, Grace’s mommy and daddy came.

“Hi, Brian,” Mrs. Myers said, giving me a big hug. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” I said. “Where’s Grace?”

“She’s in the waiting room. They won’t let kids come visit, so she can’t come in your room,” Mr. Myers explained.

“But they let Harry come in,” I pointed out.

“Only because he’s your brother. Grace isn’t part of your family so they won’t let her come in,” Mrs. Myers said.

I made a face. “No fair,” I said, pouting. I hadn’t seen Grace in forever. I missed her.

“She’s been thinking about you though,” Mrs. Myers said.

“Brian, would you like Grace’s mom to tell her thank you from you for giving you her bear?” Mommy prompted.

I nodded. “Tell Grace thank you for giving me Curly,” I said to Mrs. Myers.

“I’ll certainly do that, Brian,” Grace’s mommy replied.

“Mommy, when can I see Grace?” I asked.

“I don’t know, honey,” Mommy said. “Maybe when you get better, you can walk out to the waiting room and see her. But for now, you have to stay in bed, and she’s not allowed to come in.”

“No fair,” I pouted again. What dumb rule to have. Like I said, I just didn’t get hospitals.

***

One month later

I had been in the hospital for a month and a half, which is a very long time. Finally, Dr. Noonan was going to let me get out of bed and walk around. And I could finally go see Grace.

“Now, Brian, make sure you hold onto this and wheel it along beside you,” Marilyn said, motioning to the little IV pole beside me. It had wheels so that when I walked, it would move with me. I didn’t understand why they couldn’t just take the IV out of my arm and let me walk around without it, but for some reason, they refused to do that.

“I will,” I said, eager to get up and around.

“Okay, you ready?” she asked, holding out her arm to help me up out of bed.

“Yup,” I replied gleefully, prepared to just hop out of bed and be on my way. As it turned out, that wasn’t going to happen. The minute my feet touched the floor, and I was standing up, I was literally falling back onto the bed again. I couldn’t even stand up! “My feet don’t work!” I cried in alarm.

“Shh, it’s okay. This happens. You’re still weak from being sick, and you’ve been in bed for so long that your legs have lost their strength. You just need to take it slow,” Marilyn coached, helping me to my feet again. This time, she held on to my arm to make sure I wouldn’t fall.

Soon, I was walking. Very slowly and pretty wobbly, but still, I was walking.

“When can I go see Grace?” I demanded impatiently.

“Honey, do you really think you can make it all the way to the waiting room? It’s a ways down the hall, and you’re not too steady on your feet,” Marilyn said.

This might have been true, but I was only five and could not be reasoned with. “Yes,” I insisted. “I can do it. I wanna see Grace.”

“How about you ride in a wheelchair this time?” Marilyn suggested.

I thought this over. Riding in wheelchairs really wasn’t so bad. It was kind of fun, actually. And if I could still see Grace…

“Okay,” I said. “Can we go now?”

Marilyn smiled. “It’s good to see you so full of energy,” she laughed. “Just let me go get a wheelchair, and then we’ll go.”

I waited impatiently for her to bring back a wheelchair. Finally, she did and helped me into it, and we were on our way down the hall.

I looked all around me on our short journey down the hallway. I hadn’t actually seen this part of the hospital, outside of my room. This was the first time I’d really been out since I had come into the hospital, six weeks earlier.

The waiting room was at the end of the hall. There were lots of people there. I saw Grace right away, sitting in a chair by her mommy.

“Grace!” I yelled, forgetting to keep my voice down because we were in a hospital. I glanced up meekly at Marilyn, but she didn’t say anything, just wheeled me over. My mommy was sitting by Mrs. Myers, talking, and she smiled as Marilyn wheeled me over.

“There you go, Brian,” Marilyn said. “Have a nice visit with Grace.”

She started to walk away, when Mommy “ahem-ed” me, raising an eyebrow. “What do you say to Marilyn, Brian?” she asked.

“Thank you!” I called quickly over my shoulder. Then I turned back to Grace. She was looking at me with wide eyes.

“Is that you, Brian?” she asked.

“Course it’s me,” I replied.

“You look… weird,” she said, cocking her head to one side.

I stuck my tongue out at her. “Well so do you!” I shot back.

She didn’t say anything. “Gracie,” started Mrs. Myers. She was whispering, but I could hear everything she said. “Remember what I told you? Brian’s been very sick, and I told you he might look a little bit different. But there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Grace nodded and turned back to look at me, but she still didn’t say anything. She stared at the IV coming out of my arm.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to it.

“It’s my IV,” I replied matter-of-factly. “It’s to give me medicine.”

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

“Nope, not really,” I replied bravely. “I can’t really feel it.”

“Oh,” she said.

We were both quiet for awhile, and I couldn’t think of anything to say.

“So you liked my present?” Grace asked finally.

“Present? Oh, you mean Curly?” I asked. She nodded. “Yup, I do. Thank you,” I replied, before Mommy could even remind me to thank her.

“You’re welcome,” Grace said. “Are you gonna come home ever?”

“Yeah. I’m coming home soon, right, Mommy?” I asked, looking up at her.

“Well, it could be another week or so, honey,” she said. “Dr. Noonan wants to make sure your infection is really gone and that you’ve regained your strength.”

I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. I was still a little weak, but other than that, I felt fine. I didn’t want to stay at the hospital anymore. I wanted to go home, to my own house and play with my own toys and friends again.

“Okay,” I replied glumly.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Mommy said. “The worst is over.” I hoped she was right.

***

Two weeks later

“Brian, don’t forget to your teddy bear,” Mommy said, setting Curly in my lap. She looked around to room to make sure all the cards and flowers and stuffed animals were packed up.

“Okay, Babyduck, you ready to get out of here?” she asked.

“Yeah!” I cried. I had been in the hospital for a full two months, and I was finally going home. Mommy and Daddy had spent the morning filling out some papers, but now they were done, and I was ready to leave. Daddy was waiting outside with the car for Mommy and I to come out.

“Okay, Brian, time to blow this joint,” said Marilyn, coming into my room. She was wheeling a wheelchair with her. “Hop in.”

“I can walk now though,” I protested.

“I know, but the hospital says that everyone leaving has to ride in a wheelchair. So come on and get in,” she insisted.

“Okay,” I agreed, climbing into the chair, clutching Curly tightly in my arms. Then Marilyn wheeled me out.

***

When we got home, the first thing I saw was a shiny new bike sitting in our driveway. It was bright red with yellow streamers and a yellow seat that looked like a banana.

“Is that for me?” I asked in awe.

“Yup, Bri, that’s for you,” Daddy said, as we got out of the car.

“Wow! Thanks Daddy and Mommy!” I cried, running to my new bike. I couldn’t wait to show Grace my new big-kid bike. Even though she was older than me, she didn’t even have a big-kid bike yet.

“Well, hop on, kiddo,” Daddy said. I carefully climbed on to the bike. It had training wheels, so it couldn’t tip over.

I pushed the pedals to get it rolling. It was hard at first because I was still weak from being sick. But soon I was riding down the driveway.

“Can I go to Grace’s house?” I asked.

“Real quick,” Mommy said. “But then you have to come home and rest, okay?”

“Aww,” I whined, but I didn’t argue. I was too happy.

Grace came running outside when she saw me on my new bike, riding down the sidewalk. “You’re home!” she cried, running up to me. “Neat bike! Is that yours?”

“Yup,” I said proudly. “I’ve got a big-kid bike now.”

“Wow,” she said, gazing at it in envy. “That’s cool. So you wanna ride bikes? I can get my tricycle out.”

“Naw, I can’t. Mommy says I gotta go home and rest.” I made a face.

“Aww. Well, okay. Bye bye.”

“Bye!” I called and rode my new bike home.

***

Lyrics taken from Backstreet Boys’ “The Perfect Fan”

Next

Back to index