Why Did She Have to Die? (8 page)

“W
hy is July so hot?” Elly muttered as she walked down the sidewalks of her neighborhood. The exercise was paying off. Her leg was getting stronger everyday.

Leaves drooped overhead, limp from heat and too little rain. Shadows darted just in front of her on the sidewalk. She wondered why a person never caught up with her shadow. She took a giant step to prove her theory. Her shadow moved forward, always just ahead of her.

“Hey, Elly! Wait up!”

At the sound of her name, Elly turned. Kenny Hughes jogged from the corner and fell into step beside her. As usual, he looked terrific. She felt the familiar pangs and flutter of her pulse over his closeness.

“I thought it was you,” Kenny said with a smile.

Elly’s heart did a funny flip-flop. “Welcome home. How was Disney World?” Her cotton top stuck to her back. She lifted her hair off her collar and fanned her neck. Maybe her hair would be longer by the time school started.

“Pretty good. I spent all my time on Space Mountain. It’s pitch dark, and you go zooming up and down on a giant rollercoaster.”

Elly shivered, not sure if it was over his description or his nearness. “You got a tan,” she told him.

“When I wasn’t on Space Mountain, I was at the pool.” He bent over, plucked a blade of grass, and twisted it. “I see your leg’s better.”

“I have to walk every day to build up the muscles.” Her shorts hugged her thighs, and she gave the hem a self-conscious tug. “I almost don’t notice the scars on my knee anymore.”

Their path had brought them to the front of the school building. “Want to rest?” Kenny asked, leading her over to a large shade tree. She settled her back against the bark of the tree. He sat in front of her, his legs crossed, Indian-style. Light filtered through the tree branches and cast a sprinkling of sun and shadows on his hair.

“Ready for school to start?” Kenny asked.

“Never! How about you?”

“It’s better than sitting around staring at the tube.” He pulled up another blade of grass and trailed it along her nose and cheek. It tickled and she felt her face grow warm. “Are you okay now?” His voice showed concern.

She knew he wasn’t asking about her leg this time. “I’ve been going to a special support group,” she said. She surprised herself that she’d told anyone other than Joy. “It’s been a big help.”

Kenny nodded solemnly. “I wish I could have gone to one when my grandfather died.”

His words caught Elly off-guard. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, when I was nine, my grandfather died. He’d lived with us all my life, ever since I’d been a baby. He was my best friend.” Kenny’s gaze grew distant, as if viewing something inside his head. “He always took me fishing. For my tenth birthday, he was supposed to take me out to the ocean. We had planned it for weeks. Then one morning, he didn’t wake up.”

Elly nibbled on her lower lip. She saw the same hurt in his eyes as she saw in the eyes of every person in her support group. “I’ll bet you were angry at him for not taking you fishing.”

Kenny blinked, wide-eyed, at her. “Yeah. How’d you know? I mean, wasn’t that a terrible thing to think about? That I wasn’t going to go fishing when my grandfather—my very best buddy—had just died?”

“What did you do?” asked Elly.

“My folks wouldn’t let me go to the funeral. They thought it would bother me too much.”

“It might have helped,” Elly said.

“Probably. Because I didn’t see him again, I didn’t really believe that he wouldn’t come take me fishing. He’d never broken a promise. So, on my birthday, I got up very early and got dressed. I sat on the back porch with my fishing gear and waited.” A frown creased Kenny’s forehead. “Of course, he didn’t come.”

A lump rose in Elly’s throat as she imagined Kenny as a boy, waiting for a man who would never arrive.

“Of course, I wouldn’t be that way if it happened now,” Kenny said. “But whenever I smell pipe tobacco, I think of him. And, you know, I still miss him.”

Elly knew. She waited while Kenny gathered his feelings.

When he looked at her again, his ears were slightly red. “I never told anybody that story before.”

“I’ll never forget Kathy,” she said, attempting to make him feel more comfortable for sharing his secret. “I know that she was smarter and prettier than I am. I used to think that Mom and Dad loved her more than me, too. But I’d give anything in the world if she could come back home again.”

The day had turned quiet and soft. Above them, shadow patterns twirled and danced as a breeze riffled the leaves. The scent of honeysuckle filled the air. Kenny’s fingers touched the side of Elly’s face. “She was very pretty,” he confirmed. “But so are you.”

Elly’s mouth went dry as she stared into Kenny’s blue eyes. He leaned forward, hesitated, then leaned closer and kissed her gently on the mouth. Sunshine chased the shadows from the corners of her mind, and Elly Rowan smiled.

For further information about support groups for those who have lost a child or sibling, contact:

The mission of The Compassionate Friends is to assist families toward the positive resolution of grief following the death of a child of any age, and to provide information to help others be supportive.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lurlene McDaniel lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is a favorite author of young people all over the country. Her best-selling books about kids overcoming problems such as cancer, diabetes, and the death of a parent or sibling draw a wide response from her readers. Lurlene says that the best compliment she can receive is having a reader tell her, “Your story was so interesting that I couldn’t put it down!” To Lurlene, the most important thing is writing an uplifting story that helps the reader look at life from a different perspective.

Six Months to Live
, the first of the four-book series about cancer survivor Dawn Rochelle, was placed in a time capsule at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The capsule is scheduled to be opened in the year 2089.

Other Darby Creek books by Lurlene McDaniel include
If I Should Die Before I Wake, A Horse for Mandy, My Secret Boyfriend,
and
Mother, Please Don’t Die.