Daydream Believer

cvi. visiting brooklyn and falling apart

cvi. visiting brooklyn and falling apart

 

I entered the hospital after school one day. Shonali told me that I was finally allowed to visit, and I wanted to see how Brooklyn was doing. I kind of knew that she wasn’t doing well, but I wanted to see for myself what I had done.

 

“Who are you here to see?” one of the nurses asked me.

 

“Brooklyn Nambiar,” I said.

 

“Family only,” the nurse said.

 

I should have known this would be a problem. Nobody would think that an Indian girl and a white girl could be related, even if it wasn’t by blood. “I’m her step-sister,” I said.

 

“I need proof,” the nurse said.

 

I quickly texted Shonali. “The nurse doesn’t believe that I’m Brooklyn’s sister.”

 

“I’ll come over there as soon as I can,” Shonali texted back.

 

A few minutes later, Shonali came over. She talked to the nurse for a while before she finally said, “You can go in.” Shonali and I headed into Brooklyn’s room.

 

I wasn’t quite prepared for what I saw. The hospital room seemed wrong for a little girl. It was too dull, too sterile. Dad and Shonali had made some effort to spruce it up though. There were some of Brooklyn’s favorite stuffed animals and dolls spread around the room. Brooklyn’s friends from school had made Get Well Soon cards, which Shonali had arranged on a table so Brooklyn could see them. Even so, it all seemed wrong.

 

Brooklyn was lying in the hospital bed in the center of the room. She seemed so pale and weak. All of the brightness was gone from her eyes. Otherwise, she seemed okay. “Hi Mommy,” she said. “Hi Kenna.”

 

“Do you need anything Brooklyn?”

 

“I want to go outside,” Brooklyn said. “And I’m hungry.”

 

“I can’t do anything about the first one, but I can get you some food,” Shonali said. “What do you want to eat?”

 

“Candy,” Brooklyn said.

 

Shonali laughed. “You can’t have candy every day Brooklyn. How about something else?”

 

Brooklyn pouted. “Please Mommy?”

 

“No,” Shonali said. “How about some pizza?”

 

“Okay,” Brooklyn said.

 

“I’ll pick some up,” Shonali said. “I’m going to leave you with McKenna now. Be good, okay?”

 

“Okay. See you soon Mommy.”

 

I looked at Brooklyn again. Even if she didn’t act like it, I knew that I had hurt her, and I could never make up for that. I did know something I could make up to her though.

 

“Hey Brooklyn, do you want to get some ice cream?” I asked.

 

“Yes!” Brooklyn shouted.

 

I smiled and helped Brooklyn into her wheelchair. Brooklyn was a lot heavier than she looked, and I knew I would get a good workout pushing Brooklyn to the ice cream shop down the street.

 

“Ice cream!” Brooklyn shouted.

 

“Yep, we’re going to get ice cream,” I said. I pushed Brooklyn out of the hospital and into the ice cream shop. It was all uphill, so it was even more of a workout than I expected.

 

“What kind of ice cream do you want?” I asked Brooklyn.

 

“Rocky Road,” Brooklyn said. I selected strawberry and ordered the ice cream. I could see everyone else in the shop staring at Brooklyn. I wanted to shield her from all of them, but I couldn’t.

 

Brooklyn and I quickly ate our ice cream so we would be back before Shonali was. I got a bit of a brain freeze, but it was worth it. The ice cream was pretty good.

 

I pushed Brooklyn out of the ice cream shop and back to the hospital. Hopefully she would get her motorized wheelchair soon. It was really a pain to push her. I helped her back into her hospital bed and we waited for Shonali to return.

 

She returned pretty quickly after we did. We all ate the pizza together and Shonali talked about what Brooklyn would have to do to get caught up on her schoolwork. I shouldn’t have been complaining about my work. Brooklyn had far more to do, but she was in first grade. It wasn’t that hard.

 

Finally, it was time for us to leave. “Bye Mommy. Bye Kenna,” Brooklyn said.

 

“Bye Brooklyn,” Shonali and I both said.

As I left, I heard Brooklyn whisper, “Thanks for the ice cream Kenna.”