Radiant

by Christina Daley

  "Don't you worry about that, Ms. P," Raj said when Mom tried to pay for the food. "You let me know when you want food, and Gita or I'll bring it as a gift from my family while Mary's recovering. And it doesn't have to just be Indian. My aunt is from Mexico, and her enchiladas will make you think you're in heaven." He then flashed his winning smile at Mary. "But the minute you're better, all the menu prices double."

  Everyone laughed, and Sienna threw a plastic spoon at him.

  "Seriously though, get better," Raj said. "Later everyone."

  "We should get going, too," Sienna said as she hugged Mary. "Can we come back in a couple days?"

  Mary smiled "I'd love that."

  "I'm going to get Ba back to Agape," Mom said. "See you later, Sweetie."

  The last person to leave was Phos.

  "Will I see you tomorrow?" Mary asked.

  He looked down. "I won't be able to come for a few days."

  Her smile faded. "Judges?"

  He nodded.

  "When will you be able to come again?" she asked.

  "Probably not until next week," he said. Then he added, "Maybe a little longer."

  Mary swallowed. "Okay. I'll see you then."

  "Good night, Mary." He kissed her and left.

  Mary breathed a heavy sigh. Today had been a great day with everyone there. They were good therapy. But knowing that she wouldn't see Phos again for a while made everything gray and dreary again, just like the rain clouds outside.

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  - 31 -

  Can

  Over the next couple weeks, Mary continued recovering. Mom and Ba came to see her everyday. Sometimes, Mom would just nap in the recliner in Mary's room before going to work. Some of Ba's friends came occasionally, and Sienna, David, Raj, and Gita came more frequently. Bruce even paid her a visit. He didn't say much, but he brought her his collection of Bruce Lee DVDs. His only words to her were "Don't lose any" and "Get better."

  Steph worked with Mary a lot so that she could do things on her own, like go to the toilet and get in and out of Michelangelo. Mary was going to still need a lot of help, especially in the beginning. But she wanted to be able to do as much as possible without relying on others.

  One of her biggest challenges by far was going to be stairs, especially since the apartment building had no elevator. Mom looked into switching to an apartment on the ground floor, but since they were all occupied, it didn't look like that was going to work out. It seemed more and more like they were going to have to move.

  "That'll be cool," Sienna said, sitting at the foot of the bed painting Mary's toenails. "If you can, try to move into a place that has a pool and invite me over."

  Mary laughed. "We probably can't afford a place like that. And we don't want to move far from my grandmother."

  Gita, who had brought dinner that evening, sat at the table painting her own toes. "I've always wanted to live in an apartment."

  "Why?" Sienna asked. "Your parents have a small palace in a neighborhood with a rent-a-cop. Why would you want to live in a place where you have to share a laundry room with Creepy Steve who steals girls' underwear?"

  "Gross," Mary said. "Someone in your building steals underwear?"

  "Lost my third pair this month," Sienna said.

  "Well, minus the underwear stealing, I think an apartment would be fun," Gita said. "You can interact with your neighbors more. We're the only brown family in my neighborhood, and everyone's suspicious of us. Except for Carter, but that was only until recently." She looked at the bottle of nail polish in her hand. "I really like this color. Can I borrow it for prom?"

  "Sure," Sienna said. "I didn't know you have prom at an all-girls school."

  Gita nodded. "It's very regulated, though. We cannot wear strapless dresses or show any cleavage. And we cannot wear shoes that are higher than three inches. We have to get what we're wearing approved by the administration a week before the dance."

  Sienna whistled. "That sucks. Part of the fun of going to prom is seeing what everyone's wearing and making fun of the slutty ones. Are you and Carter going, Mary?"

  Mary shrugged. "We hadn't talked about it, but probably not. Hard to dance in a wheelchair."

  "It's possible, though," Gita said. "I saw it on YouTube."

  "Speaking of Carter, where is he?" Sienna asked. "I've seen him at school a couple times, but not enough to talk to him. It's been a while since he's come here to see you, hasn't it Mary?"

  Mary nodded. "He has a ton of stuff to do, and I told him not to worry about me."

  Sienna whistled. "Wow, you're super understanding. If I were in the hospital, I'd make David come see me everyday or I'd dump him like an ugly baby."

  Mary and Gita laughed.

  A nurse knocked on the door. "Ladies? Sorry to spoil the fun, but visiting hours just ended."

  "But my varnish isn't dry yet," Gita said, wiggling her glossy toes.

  "Just walk barefoot," Sienna said as she packed up her stuff. "They should be dry by the time we get downstairs. See you later, Mary."

  Mary said goodbye. And just like that, the room was empty. One of Bruce's DVDs was playing on the TV, but Mary switched it off. She was starting to get a little Bruce Lee'd out.

  She sighed and looked at her toes. Sienna had painted them lime green. Mary didn't care for the color, but she had enjoyed the girls staying with her. Now, there was nothing to do and no one to talk to until morning. Mary was caught up on all her schoolwork for the most part, and she didn't feel like watching TV or surfing the web. And she wasn't tired enough to sleep.

  Mary leaned her head back against her pillow. "I'm bored." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Michelangelo sitting by her bed. "You look boring, too. You're all black. But I only like it when Phos wears all black. Maybe I'll paint you a different color." She sighed again. "I'm so bored that I'm talking to a wheelchair."

  She lay there for a while, listening to the rain outside. It hadn't stopped once in the time that Mary had been at the hospital. She wondered if that conversation she had dreamt about between Phos and Mayim was real.

  Mary finally decided to do some drawing. She reached for the side table and opened the drawer to get her sketchbook out. But she noticed that under the sketchbook was a Gideon's Bible. It was the first time she saw it there.

  "That's weird," she said. "I thought those were only in hotels."

  She pulled it out and opened it to the first page. She didn't understand the first few pages, so she flipped ahead and came across the familiar book of Matthew, which she read part of when she had thought Carter had been possessed by a demon. She flipped ahead a little more until she got to a section that had the bold subtitle, "The Greatest Gift." She didn't really understand the first part of it, but about a third of the way down, it started talking about love. "Love is longsuffering and is kind," it said. She read on until she got to the line, "Love never fails."

  Mary re-read that section several times. It reminded her of when she and Phos talked on the roof of Carter's house. She began memorizing parts of the passage when she heard singing. It came from the hallway and was getting closer.

  A knock came to her door.

  "Who is it?" she asked.

  "Housekeeping," a voice said on the other side.

  That was odd, Mary thought. Housekeeping usually came in the morning. Maybe the nurse from earlier saw all the empty food containers that Gita had brought dinner in. The room did look a bit like a pigsty.

  "Come in," Mary said.

  The door opened, and a man in a janitorial uniform stepped inside. He had a ponytail and red wristbands.

  "Hi there," he said as he pushed his cart in. "Sorry to bother you, but I'll only be a minute."

  Mary stared at him. "You're from the university! Josh, right?"

  He smiled as he began tidying the room. "That's right. I work around the university a lot, but I pick up a couple shifts here. Remind me what your name is again."

  "I'm Mary," she said. />
  "Right. The artsy one looking for the Astronomy department," he said.

  She smiled and nodded.

  "What happened to you?" he asked.

  Her smile faded. "It's kind of a long story."

  Josh glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, I'm due for a break right about now. Wouldn't mind to hear it if you wouldn't mind to tell it."

  Mary thought for a moment. She was a little glad for the company, so she began telling him about the night the store was robbed and she was shot.

  "Wow," Josh said when she had finished. "That's nuts."

  "Yeah. I guess it is." She shrugged. "Anyway, here I am now. And that's Michelangelo."

  Josh chuckled and patted the wheelchair. "Nice. A fitting designation for a chariot of his stature."

  Mary sighed.

  "I'm sorry," he said. "It must be tough."

  She nodded.

  Neither of them spoke for a moment. Then, he said, "Well, I'm probably going to irritate you greatly by saying this, but I've always believed in the power of positive thinking."

  She wrinkled her brow.

  "I'm serious!" he said. "I've seen people do some crazy cool things when they really put their minds to it. Do you want to walk again?"

  Mary's brow wrinkled even more.

  "That was a rhetorical question," Josh chuckled. "Do you, Mary, want to walk again on your own two feet?"

  "Of course," she said. "Why wouldn't I?"

  "If you want it bad enough, and you believe it without a shadow of a doubt, then you'll walk again," he said.

  Mary sighed. "You're one of those glass-half-full people."

  "Guilty," he laughed.

  "But I can't walk," she said. "It's impossible."

  "Only because you think it is," he said. "What is anything in this world? The most popular products, the biggest companies, whole nations, and even the whole universe all began with a single thought."

  She stared at him. "You also don't talk like a janitor."

  He chuckled and took her hand. His hands were strong and rough. A worker's hands. "Come on, just humor me for a second," he said. "Say, 'I can walk.' And really mean it."

  Mary rolled her eyes. But she said, "I can walk."

  "For real?" Josh huffed. "That was weak. I mean really mean it. Again. 'I can walk!'"

  Mary laughed. "I can walk!"

  "Again!" he said. "But this time, with feeling. Can you walk, Mary? Can you?"

  "Yes!" she shouted. "I CAN WALK!"

  ***

  Mary's eyes shot open.

  Mom got up from the recliner. "Mary? Why'd you yell? Are you hurting?"

  Mary looked around. "Where is he?"

  "Who?" Mom asked. "You mean Carter?"

  "No, Josh," Mary said. "He was here just now."

  "I've been here for the last half hour," Mom said. "No one named Josh has come by this morning."

  "Morning?" Mary looked out the window. For the first time in weeks, she saw soft sunrays streaming through it. "But he was cleaning the room."

  "Housekeeping came and left a few minutes ago. It was a woman," Mom said. "You might have been dreaming."

  Mary opened the drawer by her bed and saw her sketchbook inside. But there was no Bible. "But…it felt so real," she mumbled.

  Mom touched her face. "It's all right. Do you want to sit up and eat? Carter should be back with some breakfast soon."

  "He's here?" Mary asked.

  Mom nodded as she took Mary's arms and pulled her up. "Today's Saturday, so he got here just as I was getting off work and—" Mom stopped. "Mary? Did you just move your leg?"

  Mary wrinkled her brow. "What?"

  "Just now," Mom said. "When you were sitting up, I thought I saw you lift it a little."

  Mary looked down. It had been ages since she had tried to move any part of her lower body. But she tried to move her left leg to the side.

  The blanket shifted slightly.

  Mary gasped and pulled the blanket off, revealing her legs and feet. She tried moving her right one.

  It shifted slightly as well.

  "Mom?" Mary said, her voice starting to quiver as her heart began to race. "Mom, I'm moving my toes."

  They both stared at her lime green toes as they slowly wiggled back and forth.

  The door opened, and Phos came in with a tray of breakfast food from the cafeteria. He stopped when he saw the looks on their faces.

  "Phos!" Mary cried, forgetting to call him Carter. Slowly, she turned by herself and lowered her feet to the floor. The tiles were hard and cold. She moved and her feet and legs responded by catching her weight as she stood. Carefully, she took two tiny steps toward him.

  Phos said nothing as he stared with eyes as wide as clock faces. Mary took another step, but her weak foot stumbled and she lost her balance.

  He dropped the tray and caught her. Milk, orange juice, cereal, and other things splattered across the floor.

  Mom leaned on the bed and began sobbing, "My God, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…"

  Phos held Mary as her feet found their strength again. She stood and looked into his emerald eyes. "Phos," she said. "I can walk."

  Back to Table of Contents

  - 32 -

  Release

  When they saw Mary walking, the nurses scratched their heads. Later, Steph scratched her head. And when Dr. Han came to examine her, she also scratched her head. She ran some X-rays and other tests, but that just made her scratch her head even more.

  "I can't explain it," the doctor said. "According to these results, it's like nothing had ever happened to your spine. You still have some slight muscle atrophy, but that can be easily taken care of with some time. But, my word. If you didn't still have the burn scar on your stomach or the one from the surgery on your back, I'd question whether you were ever injured at all!"

  "Does that mean I can go home?" Mary asked.

  Dr. Han shrugged. "I can't see why you should stay. I'd like you to continue with physical therapy for at least a few weeks, and I'll let you schedule that with Steph. But other than that, you can get your things packed. I'll get your discharge papers going."

  As Mary got dressed in the bathroom, Mom and Phos gathered up all of her school things and other stuff she had accumulated during her stay. Before she pulled on her shirt, Mary stared at the scar on her stomach. She ran her fingers over it, feeling the rough skin. It was rather ugly, as most scars are. But she was still glad to have it.

  When they were ready to go, Dr. Han came back with a bunch of stuff for Mom to sign. "It's the hospital's policy that you be taken to the exit in a wheelchair. Do you want to use yours?" she asked.

  Mary looked at Michelangelo. "I guess one last time wouldn't hurt." She lowered herself into the chair, and Steph pushed her out of the room, followed by everyone else. After a quick elevator ride, they arrived at the front of the hospital. There was a bunch of people there, along with balloons, flowers, and a couple kids in wheelchairs as well.

  "They were released from the cancer ward today," Mom explained.

  Mary smiled.

  Steph pushed her and Michelangelo to the sliding doors. "Here you go!"

  Mary stared at the doors for a moment without moving.

  "Are you all right?" Phos asked.

  She nodded. "I was just thinking." Yesterday, she thought she wasn't going to be able to walk out of the hospital. Now, she took hold of the chair's armrests and pushed herself up to stand. Then, she stepped through the sliding doors.

  ***

  Mary stayed home from school for a few days, but she was getting stronger. Ba was so happy to see her walking that she cried. Sienna and the others also flipped when they heard she was home.

  "It's a lot better hanging out in your living room than at the hospital," Sienna said as she skimmed through the television stations with the remote. "But your TV kinda sucks."

  Mary laughed. "Maybe I should've asked to exchange the wheelchair and bring the flat screen home instead."


  "Hm," Sienna said as she flipped another channel. A black and white movie came on. "Oh! It's Roman Holiday! I love this movie. I wanna go to Rome some day. Can you imagine seeing all the art everywhere? And not just in the museums."

  Mary smiled. On one of their "cool" dates, Phos had translated them to the Eternal City. It really was an amazing place.

  Sienna continued. "I think it'd be awesome to study abroad there. Hey! Maybe we should all do that next year and—Babe? What are you doing?"

  David was rolling around in Michelangelo, trying to balance on just the two large wheels. "What are you going to do with this? If you're not using it, can I have it?"

  "Mom and I are donating it," Mary chuckled. "There's this charity downtown that takes wheelchairs and gives them to people who can't afford them. I'm gonna miss it a little. I was starting to get attached."

  "So, don't break it," Sienna told him as she picked up her glass of lemonade. When she saw it was empty, she raised it in the air. "Waiter! More, please."

  Phos was in the kitchen putting the clean dishes into the cabinet. When Mary got home, she was a little distressed to find that Mom had hardly cleaned the apartment while she had been in the hospital. Dust covered everything, dirty clothes and dishes were piled up, and weird things were growing in the bathroom. Phos pitched right in to help, even scrubbing the toilet. The only thing that Mom didn't let him do was wash their unmentionables. Since then, Mom was totally cool about having him in the apartment.

  He smiled as he got the pitcher from the fridge and refilled her glass. "Here you go, my lady."

  "I think you're abusing the help," Mary chuckled.

  The door to Mom's bedroom opened, and she came out in a fresh set of scrubs. "I've got to pay the electric bill before I go to work, so I'm heading out now. You kids have fun, but don't stay too late. It's a school night. And David, honey, be careful in that chair."

  Mom kissed Mary on the cheek before they exchanged their usual "love-you-buh-byes." Then she was gone.