Friendship

Pain can be felt in all kinds of ways. If you fall off a bike and scrape your knee you could feel pain, put on a bandage and, with time, forget about it. But there is another pain that can only be cured by accepting it because it never goes away. This is the pain I want to talk about. One beautiful spring morning, the birds were chirping, and the cool morning breeze blew through the window that woke me up gently. I suddenly remembered that that day my whole grade was going to perform a play called Matilda. My part was the father, which had the most lines to remember. I practiced like crazy until I learned it by heart. I gulped my milk down in a flash and wolfed down my waffles in a second. I slipped into my jeans and black short-sleeved polo T-shirt, put on my shoes and bolted out the door. As I boarded the half-crowded train I started to review my flash cards. I felt that going to school that day in particular would be an extraordinary day. But I didn’t know what sort of surprise awaited me. As I entered the school all smiling, a fifth-grader glared at me and said, “What are you smiling at? It isn’t a moment of happiness.” With that she spun around and charged up the stairs. I barely had a chance to reply to what she had said to me, when I passed by a group of kids sitting on the floor crying. I was confused as to why the whole school was so gloomy on what was supposed to be a fun morning. Near the main office, Ms. Rosenblum, a third-grade teacher, gestured me toward the cafeteria. I considered what I might have done for her to pull me aside. She wasn’t even my teacher. I sat down at a table, my hands all sweaty and cold, still wondering about why was I there. “What are you smiling at? It isn’t a moment of happiness” “I am sorry, Daniel, but I have some bad news for you,” she said with a soft voice. “Mr. Dutt, our science teacher, died last night while he was driving his car,” she said. Like a movie stuck in rewind, all the fun memories were going from the last to the first science class. The first image that came to my mind was the day we made the experiment of Coke and Mentos in after-school science. Mr. Dutt organized the whole “crew” into groups. My group was working with Diet Coke and blizzardblue Mentos candies. I loved seeing the Coke rattle after I inserted the wire full of Mentos into the bottle nozzle. The sound of exploding bits of hard candy and overflowing soda excited the whole class. We all ended up soaking wet, and brown and sticky. It was one of the funniest days of my life. Then, in a flash, I pictured the bearded dragons, the turtles and the snakes in the science room. I saw Mr. Dutt feeding and petting them. I heard his voice and his funny jokes. All of it will be gone forever. My head felt like a helium balloon and my body like a rock. Now I understood why the fifth-grader glared at me, the kids were crying in the hallway and even the red eyes of Ms. Rosenblum. As soon as all these images were out of my heart, I blew up in tears. “I know how you feel, sweetheart, I miss him too,” she said as she gently stroked my hair. When I arrived at my fourth-grade classroom, my teacher, Ms. Painter, who was sitting on a rocking chair and reading a book, glanced up at me and said, “Daniel, do you know what happened? Did anyone tell you that Mr. Dutt d- ” “I know what happened,” I interrupted her, which she hates a lot but on this occasion she didn’t care. As I sat down at my table I saw the rest of the class drawing pictures quietly. Some were reading books and some were crying. When I saw the kids crying for a moment I felt that we were all sharing the same pain, that we were all friends. But that wasn’t so. Fourth grade was my worst year in elementary school. Kids always were making fun of me, calling me names and leaving me out. Nobody wanted me to play with them. Nobody wanted to sit and eat with me at lunchtime. Every day I dreaded to go to school. The whole school was my hostile enemy, except Mr. Dutt. He was my only true friend, or that’s how I felt. Now that he died I was completely alone. Then, I came across a doodle of a cartoon bearded dragon: it was my lizard, Carlo. I smiled and felt a bit better. I received Carlo for my birthday, inspired by Mr. Dutt’s bearded dragons, Angelo and Derek. I was amazed at how fun and enthusiastic creatures they were so I begged my parents for one. When I finally got one I learned a lot of facts on how to take care of them. I read about them on the Internet as well as in books and magazine articles, and then I went to Mr. Dutt and told him all that I had learned. Mr. Dutt was pretty amused at my interest, so he gave me more books about lizards and also let me help him take care of the bearded dragons at school. Science became my favorite class and Mr. Dutt, my best friend. Suddenly I left my chair all dreamy and went to the principal’s office to ask her if I could feed the lizards one more time. It took a long time for her to finally say yes. Then and there I realized that would be the last time I ever saw them. The principal had decided to send the lizards to an animal shelter.

Jackie Linnely took a big jump into the crunchy pile of leaves in the school yard. Ms. Lunder suddenly blew her whistle as the bell rang, BRRRINNNGG! “Alice,” Jackie called out to her friend, “see you after school!” As Jackie lined up to go inside, she saw Ms. Lunder pull on a sweater. That made her feel chilly, too. Jackie was so happy autumn was here! It was her favorite season: apples, apple pie, and the best thing of all… the new aquarium on Main Street in downtown Aberdeen was opening. “Jackie?” asked Ms. Lunder. “Here!” “Jason?” “Here!” “Now,” Ms. Lunder said, “who can tell me the next chapter of science we will be learning about?” Jackie’s hand shot straight into the air. “Yes?” questioned Ms. Lunder. “Marine biology! I know because I was looking at the next chapter in the textbook.” “Correct!” Ms. Lunder pronounced. “I am glad you were thinking ahead.” Gosh, thought Jackie, I can’t think about anything else! When she grew up, Jackie wanted to be a marine biologist and study hermit crabs, sea stars, coral and tropical fish, like Schubert and Vivaldi, her pet fish at home. Also, she thought she might pursue a career in music. Jackie loved to play the cello, and her favorite piece was The Four Seasons, by Vivaldi. “Maybe a little twist in life can be a good thing after all” Before Jackie knew it, the school day was over, and she was meeting Violet, Lily and Alice at the school’s back gate. As she neared their meeting spot, she heard Alice say, “Did you hear the aquarium is almost open, and they are giving a grand tour in a couple of weeks?” Jackie practically jumped on Alice, looking more like a happy elephant than a ten-year-old schoolgirl! “They what?” Jackie exclaimed. “I said they are opening the aquarium,” repeated Alice. “Really? Do you think they are taking visitors now?” “Hmmm. I’m not sure. ’Bye Violet and Lily,” said Alice. “Maybe we could go,” suggested Jackie. “Um, Jackie?” Alice began. “Yes?” asked Jackie. “I’m moving.” Now Jackie’s mind was a complete blur. OK, let’s replay this, she thought: first I asked her about the aquarium, then she said she was moving?! “Oh, no, Alice! Why?” Jackie blurted out suddenly. “For a lot of reasons,” explained Alice. “Where are you moving to?” asked Jackie. “Eureka, California,” replied Alice. As Jackie walked home, her thoughts were interrupted by the smell of apple pie. Then she realized that the smell was coming from the ever-baking household of Alice Palmer, struck by the fact that this was probably the last time she would smell that delicious aroma. She leapt over the small shrub that caressed the ground beneath the Palmers’ kitchen window, pressed her nose to the now steamy glass, and took a deep breath. *          *          * Scratch, scratch went Jackie’s pen against the stationery envelope that was almost labeled: Alice Palmer, 2820 Florentine Avenue, Eureka, California. Jackie heaved a glum sigh as she was once again reminded of her friend’s move two months ago. Aberdeen’s aquarium was now open, but Jackie took no pleasure in going there without her friend Alice. Tidepooling was an exciting outing that Alice and Jackie had always enjoyed together, but now it was only associated with Alice’s departure to Eureka. “Jackie! Time for cello lessons!” her mother’s voice interrupted from downstairs. “OK!” Jackie replied, trying to strike a happy tone to her voice. As she lugged her cello down the wooden steps, her mind forgot about Alice and took on Vivaldi’s “Autumn” movement from The Four Seasons. This piece, which emphasized the sudden seasonal changes in the music, always made Jackie feel more cheerful about transitions in her own life. *          *          * “Jackie! Letter for you!” called Jackie’s mother from downstairs. As she eagerly ripped open the envelope, Jackie couldn’t control the letter from falling to the floor! Grabbing it excitedly, she read the letter: Dear Jackie, What’s going on back in Aberdeen? How are you? I’ve made lots of friends, and now I am pretty much used to Eureka. Did my mother call you yet and tell you the news? I am coming to visit… Well, that was enough for Jackie! With an Indian warlike whoop, she tore downstairs with the exciting news. With Alice coming to visit, everything would be the same again, Jackie thought. We will go to the aquarium, take long walks along the boardwalk at the beach, and gather leaf bouquets for Ms. Lunder again! Jackie imagined. *          *          * “I’m so happy you could come back to Aberdeen, Alice!” said Jackie. “Let’s go to the new aquarium!” Alice suggested. “No,” replied Jackie. “Now I only associate the aquarium with your moving away. Let’s go for a walk on the beach instead.” As the two strolled along the wooden boardwalk, they observed innumerable quantities of amazing sea creatures, such as sea stars, water spouts of whales, silvery minnows in the waves, and… “Alice! What’s that?” Jackie pointed toward an unidentifiable yellow object in the water. “I’m not sure, Jackie. Oh, it looks like flowers,” Alice replied. A glistening bundle of bright yellow daffodils—the kind you see in early spring—against the deep blue background of the churning waves was coming closer to the pier. Then Jackie realized that there was something different about this walk than the others they had taken before Alice had moved away: the feeling of picking yellow daffodils in the springtime. They weren’t going to last forever. Even as you were enjoying them, you knew they were going to wilt soon. “Alice?” asked Jackie. “What is it?” answered Alice. “Those flowers—they’re starting to make me think that maybe a little twist in life can be a good thing after all,” said Jackie. “A bundle of beautiful yellow daffodils isn’t usually in the ocean on a Sunday morning. That’s just like your move to Eureka, Alice. You’re out of place, also, but maybe we can find the beauty