That Was Then

22-Then

I broke my arm on the first day of spring break in fourth grade. I wish I could say that I broke it in some cool way like snowboarding, which is what I was supposed to be doing later on that day. Instead, I broke it when I slipped on the tiniest patch of ice on our back porch while taking our old dog, Handsome, outside. He was not handsome at all so I have no idea why Dad and Mama named him that. The patch of ice was no bigger than a half dollar and I only slipped because I was dancing around like an idiot trying to convince Handsome that it was so much fun outside. I slipped and fell down the remaining 3 steps and landed painfully on my left arm. And the dog still wouldn't come outside.

Abuela and Caleb took me to the hospital because Mama and Dad were already at our cabin an hour away. Caleb held my hand while they set my arm. I screamed and then threw up on his shoes, a pair of Nikes that he had spent nearly six months saving up for. I cried, both because my arm hurt and because I felt so bad for ruining his shoes.

"I'm," sob, "soooo," sob, "sorry!"

"It's okay Blake, they're just shoes!" He swore, but I knew he was upset. Dad and Mama got there just as they were wrapping my arm in a plain white cast. I'd wanted green or purple but the nurse didn't even ask me.

I insisted stoically that we all still go to the cabin. Abuela and Caleb were going with us and I already ruined his shoes, I didn't want to ruin his spring break too. He had been talking about it since Christmas, when Dad had promised to teach him to snowboard.

The answer to my request was a solid no at first. Abuela tried sending me straight up to bed but I hadn't spent the past five years being best friends with Kya without picking up on the art of getting my way. I stomped my feet and set about using every tactic I had at my disposal. I pleaded with big crocodile tears, "please?! I still really want to go!" I appealed to Abuela's love of a certain little candy shop on the way, "you were going to buy your sister a box of those truffles that you love." I used logic, "we're already packed. I can rest there just as easily as I can rest here." I sneaked a peek at Caleb and I knew he would accept whatever the outcome but that he was silently rooting for me to get my way. I used sarcasm. "What are you going to do here anyway? Sit around and watch me rest? Is that going to make me heal faster?!" Finally I used Caleb and a heaping pile of guilt. "Dad, you promised to teach Caleb to snowboard, are you really going to break that promise?"

We stopped at the candy shop on the way and Abuela bought me a huge piece of my favorite fudge: dark chocolate with peanut butter. But then she gave me a pain killer and made me go lie down as soon as we got to the cabin.

I woke up a several hours later to the smell of permanent markers and hot chocolate. It took me a couple of minutes to remember where I was and why my arm hurt. It was dark out but a small lamp was on in the den and Caleb was bent over my cast, doodling intently. He was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't notice me wake up until I said his name.

He looked up and his cheeks were rosy, whether embarrassed or from spending the afternoon out in the cold, I wasn't sure. "Sorry, did I wake you up?!"

I shook my head.  "What're you doing?"

He capped the turquoise marker in his hand and sat back so I could see what he had done. My cast was covered in colorful snowflakes. It matched the blanket that Abuela had made me for Christmas and that I was snuggled up in. "I know you wanted a colored cast so..." he trailed off, looking a little sheepish.

"It's beautiful, Caleb!  Thank you!"

Not one to take a compliment well, Caleb shifted uncomfortably, moving away from me. "Here, Abuela made us some hot chocolate." When I sat up and took my hot chocolate Caleb turned on a movie and sat on the opposite end of the couch, sipping his hot chocolate and watching the movie in silence.