by Lin Oliver
“That’s me!” Oscar whistled. “My face! How did it get there?”
I pointed to the words at the bottom of the cover and read them aloud. “Story and photos by Tyler Frank.”
Oscar took the magazine and put it next to his heart. “I will keep this always,” he said. “I will show it to everyone in my town. I have never been so proud of anything.”
As he reached down to put the magazine on the table next to his bed, I saw him wince with pain. I realized we hadn’t talked at all about the surgery.
“How are you feeling, Oscar?” I asked him.
“It hurts,” he said. “But that’s okay. It will take a while, but before too long, I will be healed. The doctors say my leg will be almost normal. Do you know what that means, Sammie?”
I shook my head.
“It means that I can throw away that stupid boot. It means I won’t limp anymore. It means I will be able to dance with you. Will you dance with me, Sammie?”
“Sure, Oscar. But I have to warn you, I’m a pretty lousy dancer.”
“I don’t believe that. I think you can do anything you want, just like Wonder Woman.”
I couldn’t help but smile. This guy had a crush on me, and it felt really nice.
“Let’s make a date for our first dance,” he said. “One year from today.”
“I just so happen to be free one year from today.” I smiled. And when he smiled back at me with those gorgeous white teeth and dark, shining eyes, I have to confess my heart did a little happy dance. I had no idea what the next year would bring. Oscar would go home to El Salvador to get better. Maybe he’d come back and visit. I hoped he would. But at that moment, the future didn’t matter. All that mattered was the way I felt right then and there.
Happy. Loved. Beautiful. And, yes, even thin.
Or at least, not fat.
There was a knock on the door and Doug came back in.
“Here’s your snack,” he said. “Knock yourselves out.”
So it was that Oscar Bermudez and I sat there in Room 407A, laughing and talking and eating red Jell-O together.
And let me tell you this, my friends. No Jell-O ever tasted so sweet.