Kevin

I thought about how Kevin and I had grown up together, and how different he was from any other boy I�ve met. He always seemed to know the right things to say, and yet he was always willing to listen. He would come over and we would talk for hours on end. No one ever teased us about being best friends even though he was a boy and I was a girl.

I remembered the day of the game, when Kevin was up at bat. The fate of the game was up to him, and he knew it well. But he picked up the bat, put on his helmet, and walked up to the base. With all eyes on him, the pressure was tense. The pitcher pitched, and Kevin swung. He ran as fast as he could, and an outfielder was running to get the ball. Kevin just kept on running, and he was between third and home when the outfielder thrust the ball at him to strike him out. The ball hit Kevin right between the shoulders, and he fell to the ground. I screamed, and ran to him. A crowd had gathered around him, but I quickly pushed my way through.

"Kevin!" I cried, kneeling beside him. "Are you all right? Please be okay." I started bawling. Two big guys carried him away on a stretcher, and I tried to follow. They wouldn't let me, though, so I ran to my mom and told her to drive us to the hospital. We followed closely behind the ambulance. We soon arrived at Fairfield General Hospital. We parked, then ran in to the waiting room. There was Kevin's mother, my second mother. We sat there crying for a long time until a short man came out.

"How is he?" I demanded. "He's okay, right?"

The doctor started to speak, then stopped. He tried again. "He's -- well, I might as well tell you right out. Kevin has a strange condition that we've never dealt with before. He's able to move, but he's unable to walk or run. We expect it to be only temporary, however. We can�t say for sure how long he'll be in the hospital, but it will be at least a few weeks."

On the train, I smiled at the thought of how protective I was of Kevin. He had always been there for me, so I wanted to return that to him. I had visited him every day, and I did my best to entertain him.

I fingered the beaded necklace around my neck that Kevin had made for me at summer camp. Soon I was feeling teary-eyed again, and I wondered what Kevin's new room looked like. Since the move, we had been in touch nonstop. We wrote and called literally every day. Even though Kevin�s mom had taken him to Hickory Falls to be closer to the specialist�s office, we had remained best friends. I had never been closer to anyone than I was to Kevin, and I didn't plan on a stupid baseball accident changing that. Nothing could change that.

Finally, the train chugged to a stop. I grabbed my bags and followed Chris to the exit. We jumped off the train and I immediately saw Kevin. There he was, sitting in his wheelchair, his face glowing with happiness. I ran to him and dropped my bags. I hugged him. He began talking excitedly. "We got a pool! I can swim. I can do almost anything now, except run. But I can wheel this really fast! Faster than I could run!"

Kevin went rambling on, but I was speechless. My eyes were brimming with tears, and I just kept grinning. We got into their car and drove to the house. When we started down his street, I immediately saw the house. We pulled into the driveway and hopped out of the car. Within minutes, we were on our way inside. The house had only one story because Kevin couldn�t possibly go upstairs. Chris and I ran straight to his room while he wheeled. He was right -- he could wheel as fast as we could run!

When we got to his room, we all sat on the bed and Kevin told us about his condition.

"I can do anything except stuff on my feet. I can even play tennis! But there's one thing I have to stay away from."

"What�s that?" I queried.

"Bees."

"Bees?" Chris repeated.

"Yep. They carry a certain germ that would kill me if I got enough of it. I don't know why. The doctors said they've never seen anything like it. But I don't mind too much. I can still do almost everything I did before."

If it were me there in that wheelchair, instead of Kevin, I would be crying and always feeling sorry for myself. But it was Kevin, and Kevin never felt sorry for himself. He was too selfless. If Kevin fell down and skinned his knee, and he saw that I had skinned mine, he would ignore his long enough to comfort me. He was so caring, so loving.

Kevin, Chris, and I were going swimming. Kevin slid into the pool and we jumped in after him. We were having a super time when I heard Kevin yelp.

"What is it?" I asked, concerned.

"I -- I got stung. By a bee," Kevin replied steadily.

"That -- that's really bad, isn�t it?" Chris asked, unnecessarily. We all knew the answer was yes. All I could do was cry. Kevin, Chris and I started hugging and crying. We dried off and went inside. We told Kevin�s mom and she started to cry, too. She called his doctor and he came right over. He checked Kevin over and took a blood sample. He left, saying he�d be back in half an hour with the results. While we waited, we talked about the happy times we had had.

The doctor returned quickly and we all sat down in the living room. We looked expectantly at the doctor, waiting to hear Kevin�s fate.

"This is going to be really hard for me to tell you," he started. "Kevin should have another week or so. Maybe not even that."

With that kind of news, what was there to do but cry? All of us started sobbing, even the doctor. It was getting late, so he soon left. At nine o'clock, Chris and Kevin�s mom went to bed. I helped Kevin to his room. Then I retreated to my own room. Suddenly, I got a horrible gut feeling that tonight would be Kevin�s last night with us. I ran to his room and told him that I was staying in his room. He nodded silently. He seemed pretty worn-down. I asked him if he wanted anything and he asked for a glass of water. I got it for him and when I returned, he was lying on his bed with his eyes closed. My heart fluttered beneath my shaky chest.

"Kevin, if you're ali--if you're awake, nod your head." I said while biting my lower lip.

Kevin nodded. I was overcome with feelings for Kevin that I didn't know existed. I hesitated, then said, "Kevin, I--I love you."

"I love you too," he murmured.

"No. I mean I really love you." And with that, I kissed him. I kissed him for a long, long time. Then I drew back and he spoke softly, "I really, really love you too."

And then Kevin was gone. Death had come, and taken him away from my loving arms. Kevin, who always smiled, no longer smiled. Kevin, perfect, lov