video. Someone should have told me!”
Eve wasn’t just
running down the Junior Year List anymore, she was dipping back in time,
thinking how the past could have been different, if only in these small ways. I
thought of Eve lying there in bed contemplating hairstyles she would never
have. It seemed a funny sort of regret. Dying, it seemed was for Eve, like the
rest of her life. It was, essentially, the same life she had always had, only
certain pieces of it had already ended. “You wouldn’t be you with curls,” I
said. “I have the wrong nose for straight, and you have the wrong cheeks for
curls.”
“Are you saying
I have fat cheeks?” Eve said, and she sort of puffed her cheeks. I was glad she
was in a good mood, and not worried about me and Doug.
“Anyway,” I
said, “You’re a natural beauty, remember? No chemical treatments.”
“No,” she said.
“I always thought that stuff might give me cancer.”
We laughed at
that one and then we both just looked at each other for a minute. I felt myself
getting choked up, but I knew I had to fight it. I took a deep breath, and
opened the book I had sitting on my lap. Eve really did look like the girl on
the cover, whose hair was golden and fell to the middle of her back. I was glad
I went out and got the real book. I liked looking at that lame picture, of this
beautiful girl in her red, backless dress. She had this look on her face, so
you could tell her whole life was about winning this guy. If anyone died in that
novel, you knew it’d be someone who deserved it. Or someone old, who was ready
for it.
I read to Eve
for about a half an hour when her Mom came in and said Carol was downstairs and
wanted to come up. I was glad Mrs. O’Meara had appeared in time to give us the
warning. Carol is one of those girls you don’t bother hating. She’s a
cheerleader type and kind of simple, but couldn’t be nicer. “Gayle is with her
too “ Mrs. O’Meara added, and raised her eyebrows. That was a surprise. Gayle
was best friends with Carol, but Eve and I didn’t hang with her that much
anymore. She had a real mean streak, and had been super jealous of Eve freshman
year. Gayle had liked Jacob before he fell madly in love with Eve, and Gayle
held the grudge, even after all that had happened with Eve - even though Jacob
didn’t seem to even be in the picture anymore.
They came in
walking really quietly, obviously in awe of the sickroom stuff in there. Carol
had on her yellow and blue cheerleading uniform. They had some sort of night
game they were going to. They were just stopping in, they said, and I could see
it was all Carol’s idea. Carol had a bunch of pink roses with some tacky baby’s
breath mixed in, and a paper bag filled with books on disc she’d brought over.
Surely, her Mom had gotten those things and told Carol and Gayle to bring them
by, even though it was stupid.
Gayle sat down
on one of the cushiony chairs that were pulled up close to Eve’s bed. She took
a chocolate Eve offered from a box on the night-table. The whole mood of the room
changed with their arrival. I got a knot in my stomach.
Gayle leaned
toward Eve, looking down at her, with an odd expression on her face and I
regretted taking a seat further away from the bed. You could tell Gayle was
trying not to look like she pitied Eve, or like Eve’s tubes disgusted her, but
you could see she was real uncomfortable.
“You two look
all dressed up,” Gayle said. “Who did your hair? I’ve never seen it all curly
like that.” You could see just the smallest glint of humor in Gayle’s eyes, a
hint she thought it was bizarre that Eve would have her hair done, while she
lay there sick. Eve’s face had started to lose some of its shape recently, so
even on her “good” side now, she looked a little more crumpled, her nose more
prominent. You could see that she’d been beautiful, but even a stranger who
knew nothing of ALS could see she had lost something that was beyond retrieval.
Gayle
Eve wasn’t just
running down the Junior Year List anymore, she was dipping back in time,
thinking how the past could have been different, if only in these small ways. I
thought of Eve lying there in bed contemplating hairstyles she would never
have. It seemed a funny sort of regret. Dying, it seemed was for Eve, like the
rest of her life. It was, essentially, the same life she had always had, only
certain pieces of it had already ended. “You wouldn’t be you with curls,” I
said. “I have the wrong nose for straight, and you have the wrong cheeks for
curls.”
“Are you saying
I have fat cheeks?” Eve said, and she sort of puffed her cheeks. I was glad she
was in a good mood, and not worried about me and Doug.
“Anyway,” I
said, “You’re a natural beauty, remember? No chemical treatments.”
“No,” she said.
“I always thought that stuff might give me cancer.”
We laughed at
that one and then we both just looked at each other for a minute. I felt myself
getting choked up, but I knew I had to fight it. I took a deep breath, and
opened the book I had sitting on my lap. Eve really did look like the girl on
the cover, whose hair was golden and fell to the middle of her back. I was glad
I went out and got the real book. I liked looking at that lame picture, of this
beautiful girl in her red, backless dress. She had this look on her face, so
you could tell her whole life was about winning this guy. If anyone died in that
novel, you knew it’d be someone who deserved it. Or someone old, who was ready
for it.
I read to Eve
for about a half an hour when her Mom came in and said Carol was downstairs and
wanted to come up. I was glad Mrs. O’Meara had appeared in time to give us the
warning. Carol is one of those girls you don’t bother hating. She’s a
cheerleader type and kind of simple, but couldn’t be nicer. “Gayle is with her
too “ Mrs. O’Meara added, and raised her eyebrows. That was a surprise. Gayle
was best friends with Carol, but Eve and I didn’t hang with her that much
anymore. She had a real mean streak, and had been super jealous of Eve freshman
year. Gayle had liked Jacob before he fell madly in love with Eve, and Gayle
held the grudge, even after all that had happened with Eve - even though Jacob
didn’t seem to even be in the picture anymore.
They came in
walking really quietly, obviously in awe of the sickroom stuff in there. Carol
had on her yellow and blue cheerleading uniform. They had some sort of night
game they were going to. They were just stopping in, they said, and I could see
it was all Carol’s idea. Carol had a bunch of pink roses with some tacky baby’s
breath mixed in, and a paper bag filled with books on disc she’d brought over.
Surely, her Mom had gotten those things and told Carol and Gayle to bring them
by, even though it was stupid.
Gayle sat down
on one of the cushiony chairs that were pulled up close to Eve’s bed. She took
a chocolate Eve offered from a box on the night-table. The whole mood of the room
changed with their arrival. I got a knot in my stomach.
Gayle leaned
toward Eve, looking down at her, with an odd expression on her face and I
regretted taking a seat further away from the bed. You could tell Gayle was
trying not to look like she pitied Eve, or like Eve’s tubes disgusted her, but
you could see she was real uncomfortable.
“You two look
all dressed up,” Gayle said. “Who did your hair? I’ve never seen it all curly
like that.” You could see just the smallest glint of humor in Gayle’s eyes, a
hint she thought it was bizarre that Eve would have her hair done, while she
lay there sick. Eve’s face had started to lose some of its shape recently, so
even on her “good” side now, she looked a little more crumpled, her nose more
prominent. You could see that she’d been beautiful, but even a stranger who
knew nothing of ALS could see she had lost something that was beyond retrieval.
Gayle
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