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By Adele Goethais |
As soon as Mrs. Franklin answered the door I knew something was wrong. She always greeted me with a warm smile and a friendly "Hello, Faith! How was school today?" when I came to bring Nora her homework. But today she stared, with a blank expression as she let me into the house. With a sick feeling in my stomach I climbed the stairs that led to Nora's room.
Usually when Nora got the flu, it lasted about a week, but this time was different. This was exactly the twenty-first day I'd stopped by to see my best friend, and I was still in perfect health. But she was pale and weak as she'd been the day I drove her home after she threw up all over the girls' change room at school. I figured she'd picked up some tropical disease when she was in Brazil for winter break. After seeing her mom's face, I was beginning to wonder if it was something more serious.
"Hey ugly!" I called ( our usual greeting) as I entered the tiny bedroom where I'd spent half my childhood.
"Hi," was the feeble response I received.
"Boy, when you try to get out of a history project, you sure know how to do it right," I teased. But that was the last joke either of us made that day.
"Faith." She turned her head towards me, taking my warm hand in her thin, cold one. Promise me, no matter what, you'll still be my friend."
"Hey," I said, now frightened. "You know I will."
"I have AIDS."
The moment anything happens in a small town, it's public knowledge. So though no one outside Nora's family (except my mom, dad, and me) was told of her condition, it was inevitable that when I returned to school that Monday, Nora's name would be on everyone's lips. I'd prepared myself to defend Nora's honour and right to privacy, and was ready to face the student body with only the love for my friend. What I got when I did reach school was a jolt.
Before I even reached my locker, the odour of fresh paint and the crowds of people who suddenly hushed as I approached warned me that something was wrong. My knees turned to jelly as I read the illiteration some vandal had crafted on my locker door... two fluorescent pink words: Lesbian Lover.
The day dragged slowly. When the last buzzer rang, I was relieved. But the worst was not over. At my locker, adding to the colourful collection of inspirational thoughts, was a group of the toughest girls in school. As the girl with the studded leather wristband lifted her pen to add words of wisdom, I called "Hey! Stop that!" Profanity was hurled at me from all sides. My first instinct was to run and never come back.
But that wouldn't help Nora. Suddenly I was angry. She was my best friend and she didn't deserve to have things like that said about her, especially when she wasn't there to defend herself. Besides, I'd done nothing to deserve this torture either. From somewhere deep inside, I summoned a courage I never knew existed. Quickly, my foot snapped up and kicked her abdomen with a force that surprised me. Elated that I'd defended Nora's honour, I was in a semi daze. But as my enemy's fist collided with my face, I reeled back into reality. Then things went black.
Mom told me what I did was a brave thing, but she doesn't want me to go back to school, at least until my eye is back to normal. But I have to. I've got to think of Nora right now and not myself. And I'm not afraid anymore. After all, my bruises will heal. Nora's won't.
©1999 TG Magazine/Le Magazine TG
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