Purple Heart

Disappeared Dad

Once Upon a Time...

...in Heartlake Bay, New Mexico, lived a beautiful 14-year-old girl name Sara Martinez. She lived with her mother, Isabela, and her grandmother, Luisa. Isabela worked at the local crayon factory while Luisa cared for Sara at home. Sara loved to sing, paint, draw, ride horses, and play her violin.

Sara's father and Isabela's husband, Enrique, is a veteran, serving in the military in his home country, Guatemala. There were times he and Sara would video-chat, and they sent letters and postcards to each other. There were times Enrique was able to come home to be with the family. The last time he'd come home to his family was when Sara was 12. They hadn't been together in person since then.

Enrique's younger brother, Cristobal, lived in Heartlake Bay with his wife, Rocio, and their twin daughters, Lizbeth and Dolores—and so did the brothers' parents, Carmen and Victor. Cristobal and Victor acted as father figures to Sara, and her maternal grandfather was one to her, too, until he passed away.

Back in July 2012, Enrique had been shot in the heart and had to have emergency heart replacement surgery. Sara was scared out of her mind and prayed for her father to be okay—and to her surprise and relief, Enrique survived, and he'd received a Purple Heart, a military medal given to veterans who have been injured or killed while serving in the military. After that, Enrique decided to make something special happen.

It was November 1, 2012, and tomorrow night was the big art fair at Mesa Grande High School. That's why many students had done a lot of pieces of art, and Sara's painting class was working on new paintings for the art fair. The art teacher, Mr. Glazer, was walking around, looking at the pieces the students were making.

"I'm seeing a lot of great paintings," Mr. Glazer smiled. He looked at Dolores's painting of fish with different colors. "Very nice color schemes, Dolores."

"Thank you," Dolores smiled.

Mr. Glazer went over to see Lizbeth's painting of sunflowers. "That's very sunny, Lizbeth," he smiled.

"Thanks," Lizbeth smiled.

Sara was having a great time with her painting. Robin McBride saw Sara, and she was disgusted yet curious. Robin was the richest and snottiest girl in Mesa Grande, and her parents ran a shoe company that made fashionable shoes for girls. She took great pride in her wealth, but she was pretty jealous of Sara's artistic ability. Robin went over to Sara's easel and saw that Sara had painted different hearts in different shades of purple in front of a yellow background.

"Oh, Sara, you've got to be kidding me," Robin sniffed.

"What are you talking about, Robin?" Sara asked.

"Purple hearts over yellow?" Robin asked. "Who would want to look at that? If you really want to paint something great for the art fair, think of something everyone will want to see, something like this." She showed her painting of what looked like pink pointe ballet slippers with heels.

"Are those ballet shoes with heels?" Lizbeth asked.

"It's the McBride Pointe Platform," Robin sniffed. "They're the latest ballet shoe on the market. Once they're released on Saturday, every ballerina will want a pair—if you're going to be a real ballerina, you've gotta have style."

"A ballet shoe with heels that high?" Dolores asked. "That sounds awfully risky."

"Oh, you worry too much," Robin scoffed.

"Very interesting painting, Robin," Mr. Glazer said.

"Thank you," Robin said sweetly.