“Just enough,” I said. Nick came close to slamming the door in my face again, but my feet and knee stopped him.
“Who’s Amber?” asked Judy.
“A girl he’s in love with,” answered Nick before I could answer.
“That’s so sweet,” said Judy. “Here,” she said, handing me a ten-dollar bill. Nick looked at her and raised his eyebrows.
“He helped you with me, do the same for him,” she said. Nick laughed, but Judy gave him the same look mom gave dad when she wasn’t happy with him. Nick pulled out a wrinkled five-dollar bill from his wardrobe and gave it to me.
“Buy her something nice, some balloons shall do the trick,” said Judy, winking at me.
“What bus should I take?” I asked them.
Judy drew me a small map and indications on which bus to take. The weather outside was nice, but I still took a thick sweater, knowing it could snow at any moment. I made sure I had the piece of paper that Judy provided me and headed out. I walked a couple of blocks until reaching the first bus station. People stared at me weirdly. An old man sitting at the bus stop focused his sight on me and whispered something I couldn’t hear. Another man to my left looked down on me and shook his head in disapproval. The bus arrived, and I entered handing the driver a five-dollar bill. I took a seat next to a man that was asleep. I was the center of attention. Everyone stared at me. Even a little girl sitting across from me looked at me, maybe wondering what I was doing here all by myself. Nerves inside me began building up, and my mind was filled with lots of questions. What if I get lost? What if Amber isn’t in the hospital anymore? For a moment I thought about exiting the bus, but looked down on Judy’s clear notes and decided to stay.
2. – Come off the bus on Brookline Ave
3. – Get Bus 65 or 66 once on Brookline Ave.
4. – Exit bus 65 or 66 on Longwood Ave.
5. – Walk two blocks down on Longwood Ave.
6. – You reached Boston Children’s Hospital
I read the notes several times so I wouldn’t forget and tried to look at the street names but it was hard to see. I looked back at the piece of paper and while I did the man sitting next to me woke up and glanced down at it.
“Young man we getting close to Brookline,” he said in a funny accent. I looked up at him and noticed he had a bushy beard and a messy mustache.
“Thanks,” I answered.
“I’m coming off in Brookline too,” he said.
“Going to go see my baby girl at the Children’s Hospital,” he added. My eyes widened.
“I’m going to see my friend there too!” I screamed.
“Yo friend?” he asked. I nodded.
“All by yo self?” he asked, confused.
“Yes,” I said shyly. The man looked at me from top to bottom and began scratching his head.
“I guess us, can go together,” he suggested. Mom and dad had warned me about not trusting strangers, but I needed his help to get to the hospital. The minutes went by and the old man leaned on the window. After a few minutes, he was asleep again.
“Sir, sir, are you awake?” I asked, shaking his shoulder. He shrugged and looked heavily asleep.
“Sir, Sir,” I moved him harder.
“What in the world!” he screamed, waking up.
“Sorry just wondering if we passed Brookline Ave already?” I asked. The man twitched his eyes open and looked out the window.
“We a few blocks away,” he answered, stretching his arms in the air. Moments later he pressed a button above us and the bus stopped.
“Follow me,” he said. My heart was pounding and my hands were sweaty. I followed him off the bus and once on the street, I saw the man clearly. His clothes seemed dirty and his jeans were ripped close to his knees. The bottom of his shoes was as thin as a piece of paper and they had no shoelaces.
“C’mon,” he said happily. He walked fast and ran as soon as he saw a bus coming our way.
“That’s the one that takes us to the Children’s Hospital,” he said. I ran after him, it wasn’t hard catching up, the man was slow and he limped from his right leg as he ran.
“Wait for us! Hold on!” he screamed. I wanted to tell him the driver couldn’t hear us, but I think he knew. I went in first and the old man followed me in. I paid for my ticket and saw the old man struggling to find his change in his deep pockets. He pulled out a handful of dimes and pennies and handed them to the driver without him counting them. The driver shrugged and complained and started counting.
“You’re twenty cents short,” he said. The old man was getting ready to walk back down. I reached in my pocket and grabbed the first quarter I could find. The man smiled and handed the quarter to the driver. He got his change and thanked the driver.
“Thanks, lil’ man, I owe you one,” he said. I sat next to him and finally asked him his name.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Curtis, Curtis Jackson,” he answered. “What ‘bout yours?”
“Noah, Noah Paxton,” I answered.
“You’re a nice lil’ man, Noah,” said Curtis. We talked the rest of the way and got to know so much about him in just a few minutes.
“We here,” he said, stopping the bus. He stepped outside and I couldn’t see anything that looked like a hospital.
“We just need to walk two blocks in that direction and the Children’s Hospital front door will appear,” he said. I walked beside Curtis as I looked for a place to buy Amber the balloons Judy had suggested. A saw a CVS Pharmacy to my left, and I asked Curtis if he could wait for me. He agreed, and I stepped inside to look around. I found the perfect balloons with a big yellow smiley face on one side and a ‘Get Well Soon’ on the back. Once on the line, I saw Curtis sitting down on the bench outside asking for money. I stepped out of the line and got more balloons for Curtis’s daughter. I paid for the balloons and made sure I still had the money for the two buses that would take me back home.
“Here,” I said, fast.
“What’s this for?” he asked.
“For your daughter,” I said, trying to walk. Curtis took the balloon and grabbed my shoulder with his other arm. He looked up at the balloons and smiled. It was a big thankful smile.
“You’re a good person, Noah. I mean that,” he said looking at me in the eyes.
We walked to the entrance and Curtis asked which floor cancer patients were on.
“Floor number four,” he said, punching in the number four on the elevator.
“I’m going to spend the night with my daughter today,” he said as the elevator’s door opened in the third floor.
“It was nice meeting you Noah,” he said placing his fist out to me.
“Nice meeting you Curtis,” I said fist-bumping him goodbye.
The doors to the fourth floor opened, and I stepped out to a wide, colorful hallway. The smell was unique, like only hospitals could smell. The fourth floor was huge and I didn’t know where to start looking. To my right a huge game room filled with toys and TVs full of boys and girls of different ages. A nurse walking by looked at me and for a second I thought about asking her but kept looking myself. I peeked my head in several rooms, but Amber was nowhere around. The fourth floor was a complete maze, and I felt I was going around in circles.
“Noah?” I heard someone say behind me. I turned around to find a teenage girl smiling and waving at me. Who is she? I thought. I tried to keep walking, but then again she screamed my name again.
“Noah!” she screamed, smiling. I turned around and waited for what she had to say.
“I’m Grace. Amber’s sister,” she said. I didn’t know Amber had a sister, but clearly she did.
“Hey,” I answered back.
“Amber is right over here,” she said. She walked down a long corridor and I soon saw Mr. Sanders standing.
“Dad, Noah is here to see Amber,” said Grace.
“Is that true Noah?” asked Mr. Sanders in a deep voice.
“Yes,” I answered, nodd
ing. Mr. Sanders dismissed Grace and called me closer to him. I saw Grace pretending to watch TV in the waiting room, but she sat as closest to us as possible. Mr. Sanders lowered down to me until we were face to face and he began talking.
“Listen to me Noah; I appreciate you being friends with my daughter. But you have to understand Amber isn’t an ordinary girl, she’s sick and unfortunately, she won’t be able to keep up with all the things kids her age do,” he said. Mr. Sanders looked weak and tired. I wanted to tell Mr. Sanders that Amber looked just as ordinary as anyone else to me and that I didn’t mind her not being able to keep up.
“I understand,” I said instead. Mr. Sanders opened the door and signaled me inside.
“Honey, you have a visitor,” he said before I walked in.
“Hey Amber,” I said.
“Hey,” she answered. She looked at me and then at the balloons I held. I looked around her room, searching for something that I could ask for to end this awkwardness. I saw Grace walking in, but Amber’s mom took her and Mr. Sanders out to the hallway.
“Let’s go out in the hallway,” she said.
My hands became sweaty, and the grip on the balloon’s string was getting loose. I needed an icebreaker; I thought for a few seconds about what to say while I looked at her. She looked back at me, expecting me to say something, anything.
“My hair is already growing,” I said stupidly.
“I can tell,” she answered.
“I went looking for you on Friday morning,” I said. “I wanted to help you walk your dog,”
“I fainted on thanksgiving and I’m here since then,” she said. I wanted to ask more about the fainting incident but knew the time wasn’t proper. My hands sweated more and more.
“Yeah, your dad told me. I’m sorry I couldn’t come yesterday. I just didn’t know what bus to take,” I said.
“You took the bus here all by yourself?” she asked, surprised. Yes, I nodded.
“My brother Nick and his girlfriend told me which bus I should take,” I explained
“You’re really nice Noah,” she said. A smile grew on my face and I didn’t know what else to say. Luckily Amber continued talking.
“You want to know something funny?” she asked. I nodded in response and was eager to hear about what she had to say.
“My birthday isn’t really on November 28th,” she said. At first, I didn’t believe her. She put her head down and continued.
“We actually share birthdays,” she said in a low voice. It took me a few seconds to realize what she meant.
“Wait, your birthday is also October 25th?” I asked.
“It is,” she said, almost giggling.
“You can still keep the bear and chocolates,” I said.
“I would keep them even if you asked for them,” she said smiling. The bus drive had definitely been worth it. Amber was smiling and so was I. My hands weren’t sweating anymore and the nerves inside me had gone away.
“Were you able to sow his ear back on?” I asked, remembering how I had ripped it off when I gave it to her.
“I won’t sow it back, that makes him unique,” she answered.
“Unique, just like you,” I said, not noticing how stupid I had sounded. A more awkward silence followed, and it was all thanks to the compliment I had just tried to give her. Amber didn’t say anything. I didn’t expect her to. What I had said wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t okay either.
“I have to go,” I finally said, knowing she wouldn’t say anything else.
“Thanks for coming,” she said.
“Maybe I can go visit you and we can walk your dog when you get back home,” I said.
“Sure,” she answered, but I wasn’t sure she meant it. I turned around and walked out, feeling embarrassed about myself. I saw Mr. and Mrs. Sanders sitting outside and Grace waved me goodbye, but I was too disappointed to wave back. I took the stairs instead of the elevator. That way it would give me more time to think about what I had just done. A part of me wanted to go back there and tell Amber that what I had said was wrong, but the other part of me knew that would make things worse. I stepped out to the street, and it was much colder. The sun had gone away and a giant dark cloud threatened the city with snow. I looked both ways as I crossed the street. I missed Curtis even though I had just met him; I knew he was the type of man that would give me good advice.
“Noah! Noah!” I heard someone scream behind me. ‘Curtis?’ I thought for a second, but then saw Mr. Sanders waving his hands and crossing the street.
“Hold on Noah, I’ll take you home,” he said. For a second I thought Amber might have asked him to take me home.
“Amber told us you were going to catch the bus, so I told her I could take you. I was on my home anyway, I hope it doesn’t bother you,” he said. My mom’s voice sounded inside my head again telling me not to trust strangers, after all, Mr. Sanders was a stranger.
“Can I take you home?” he asked again.
“Sure,” I answered.
“You can drive to your house, and I can walk from there. I live down the street,” I explained.
I could tell Mr. Sanders wanted to tell me something. The way he looked at me every time he stopped at a red light wasn’t normal.
“I appreciate all you do for Amber,” he said. I was speechless. All I did was a nod for him to continue talking.
“I know it’s a little early to ask this but I really wish my daughter and you can become really good friends. She really needs someone like you in her life and hopefully, you too can go to the same middle school,” he suggested.
“Of course, my mom is making me go to James. O Timilty Middle School,” I said.
“Maybe you can make Amber go there too,” I added.
“Sure thing, we’ll talk about that Noah. It was nice meeting you,” he said, parking outside his driveway. I exited his car and walked home, hoping mom wasn’t looking for me.
Luckily, neither mom nor dad were worried about me yet. Judy and Nick were in the living when I walked in. They both wanted to hear how it had gone, I told them everything and Judy said it had gone well.
The next day I didn’t expect to see Amber at school, so I wasn’t too excited to go. Ms. Flowers sneezed her way in and told us she had been sick all weekend. She wasn’t the type of teacher that had a substitute teacher come in for her, and we thanked her for that. No other teacher could be nicer than her. The day went by just like any other. To my surprise, Skylar had been behaving, and slowly she was trying to make friends in the room.
The next day I saw Amber walk in, and immediately my hands began shaking. She sat down where she normally did, and I saw Emily lean up to her to ask her why she had been absent. I didn’t participate all day in class; I was too busy checking on Amber. I stared at her from time to time until Daniel reminded me we were still in class. I loved seeing her pay attention in class. If only I could do the same, my grades could have been better.
I saw Amber look at me the last few minutes of the day. Something told me she wanted to tell me something. I stuck around after school in case she had something to say. I saw her looking at me as I spoke to Daniel, and it was clear she had ditched Emily so she could be alone.
“See you tomorrow,” I told Daniel and began walking towards Amber.
“I’m glad you’re doing better,” I said.
“Thanks,” she said shyly. I figured she didn’t want to talk, so I turned around to keep walking.
“Wait Noah, I wanted to invite you to the park today. We can take my dog, Ernest, I could really use a walk,” she said. I couldn’t believe what she was saying, I thought about pinching myself just to make sure I wasn’t daydreaming. Amber was asking me on a date!
“That’d be great,” I said, trying to not sound overexcited.
“I’ll see you at my house today around five, okay?” she asked.
“Definitely,” I answered. Amber turned around, and I jumped with excitement. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I couldn’
t wait to tell Nick and Judy, and hopefully, they’d help me with good tips for my first date.
Chapter Thirteen
Amber: As the clock approached five, my hands became sweatier each minute. If I had Noah’s house phone number, I would have called him lying to him saying something had happened, so the walk to the park could be postponed. I tried making Ernest fall asleep so I could have an excuse for dismissing Noah back home. Unfortunately, Ernest was wide awake and was shaking his tail as if he knew what was coming. I stared at the clock each minute, wishing Noah wouldn’t be able to make it. It was nearly five and I got everything ready. I grabbed Ernest collar’s and tried placing it on him.
“Where are you going?” asked mom.
“Out,” I answered, hoping she wouldn’t ask more.
“Out where?”
“To the park,” I said.
“With whom?” she asked.
“Noah invited me to do the park to walk Ernest,” I lied.
“Is that right? Well, go on, just don’t come home too late,” she said smiling. Mom was getting ready to tease me, but I walked outside and waited for Noah there. I peeked through the window and saw it was only a few minutes till five.
“I hope he doesn’t show up,” I said to myself. I looked at the clock again and it was only seconds till five, I was getting a good feeling he wasn’t showing up but then I heard Ernest bark.
“Amber,” said Noah, standing outside. He stepped onto my lawn without me inviting him in, and Ernest ran at him.
“Ernest!” I cried, thinking he might bite him. Ernest reached Noah and jumped in his hands. Noah caught him in midair and they gave each other a sloppy kiss. Ernest wagged his tail and licked Noah’s face.
“He’s never like this,” I said, feeling ashamed. Noah laughed and brought Ernest to the floor. The two of them played for a few minutes as if they were the same species. Ernest began biting on Noah’s shoes and wouldn’t let go.
“Stop it, Ernest!” I hissed. Noah seemed to enjoy and before we went to the park both of them were full of snow and mud. On our way to the park Noah didn’t say much, he was busy taking care of Ernest, he was the one walking him as if Ernest was his. Ernest didn’t mind, he seemed to enjoy it. He loved being the center of attention, and apparently so did Noah. Both of them made me laugh as we reached the park. The walk as we had initially called it became a play date for Noah and Ernest. First Noah had Ernest slide down the big red slide with him, and then he wrapped Ernest around his body and asked me to push them both on the swings. Noah invited me along as they headed for the big red slide again, I was feeling a little embarrassed but they seemed to be having so much fun. The next time they headed for the slide, I made my way up with them without them knowing. Noah went first and close behind was Ernest and then me, we hit the ground hard and Ernest moved between me and Noah licking our faces. I couldn’t remember any other time where I had so much fun. It was hilarious seeing Ernest slide pretending to be human and then running after Noah as if he played tag. I saw Noah laugh to tears as Ernest jumped from the top of the slide and landed on top of the snowy sand. I looked at Noah and his laugh changed almost instantly. He looked way beyond the open field where four girls walked. Noah shook his head and ignored the barks of Ernest to keep playing with him. It took me a few seconds to know why Noah had stopped having fun. The four girls walking towards were Skylar and her group of friends. The four of them looked like sisters; they all had the same smug face on, as if they smelled raw fish for the first time. I saw Skylar point at us and it was too late to leave, I could hear her laugh although she was quite distant still. Ernest began barking, surely knowing the kind of person Skylar was. Noah grabbed him from his collar and calmed him down as Skylar walked towards us.
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