Spring woke with a jump. Squinting around, she almost forgot where she was for a moment. She was slumped in the straight-back chair against the wall, and the realization came to her that she was still in the hospital.
The hospital clerks had given Spring permission to leave once the woman’s husband arrived, but Spring wanted to make sure the woman was okay. Spring knew what hospitals were like. The last time she had been in one, she was completely alone. She didn’t want to leave that woman alone.
Suddenly, the blank walls and the acidic, cleaning-product smell of the hospital began to overwhelm her. She didn’t want to think about the last time she’d been here, but the sights, smells, and sounds were too familiar.
Spring met Robbie when she was 15. They had gym together. She was a freshman and he was a senior. She noticed him watching her one day taking laps around the field. From that point on, she would put on a show for him during physical fitness, strutting around, flipping her hair. She hoped it would encourage him to ask her out.
It did. They started dating and were always together. When Robbie graduated, he went to the community college in order to stay close to Spring, even though he could have gone to the big state university on a basketball scholarship. His parents didn’t approve, but Spring and Robbie were going to get married and start a family and always be together.
Along the way, they accidentally mixed up the order of their plans. At 17, months from graduation, Spring got pregnant. This was okay, though, just fine. It just meant they could be a family even earlier. They perfected their plan: Spring would finish high school and then join Robbie at the community college. They would each take a lighter load of classes in order to take care of the little one they expected. Robbie wanted to know the sex, but Spring wanted it to be a surprise. She had always wanted to be a mother; it didn’t matter if it was a boy or girl.Spring’s father had died when she was young, but her mother couldn’t have been more happy about the pregnancy. She started planning the wedding and fixing up a nursery in the house. Robbie could move in to Spring’s room, and they would all be a family together.
Four months in, Spring woke with pains in her abdomen. She told her mom she felt sick, she wasn’t going in to school. Her mother went to work, and Spring went back to sleep. She woke again to much stronger pains and blood on her sheets. Panicked, she called 911 and went to the hospital.Doctor’s examined her and shook their heads, but no one would tell her anything. She shouted, wanting to know, but they just put her under.
When she woke, her mother sat across from the hospital bed, tears in her eyes. She began to speak but Spring cut her off. She already knew. She didn’t need to hear it out loud. Robbie came to visit, pale and anxious. He wouldn’t look her in the eye. He said he had to go after just 30 minutes.Spring went home later that day. A letter was waiting for her in the mailbox without an envelope. It was from Robbie.
He was sorry about the baby. But he wasn’t really ready to be a dad anyway. And he didn’t think it was right to get married just because of a kid. Spring had been holding him back, really. He had another chance to play basketball in school. It wasn’t as great as his first offer, but he needed to go on to bigger and better things than what she and this town had to offer. She didn’t see him before he left. After graduation, Spring went to work at the Rolling Rink with her mom, helping raise her younger sister, Trish, whose high school sweetheart married her at 18. They had a baby boy.
The hospital clerks had given Spring permission to leave once the woman’s husband arrived, but Spring wanted to make sure the woman was okay. Spring knew what hospitals were like. The last time she had been in one, she was completely alone. She didn’t want to leave that woman alone.
Suddenly, the blank walls and the acidic, cleaning-product smell of the hospital began to overwhelm her. She didn’t want to think about the last time she’d been here, but the sights, smells, and sounds were too familiar.
Spring met Robbie when she was 15. They had gym together. She was a freshman and he was a senior. She noticed him watching her one day taking laps around the field. From that point on, she would put on a show for him during physical fitness, strutting around, flipping her hair. She hoped it would encourage him to ask her out.
It did. They started dating and were always together. When Robbie graduated, he went to the community college in order to stay close to Spring, even though he could have gone to the big state university on a basketball scholarship. His parents didn’t approve, but Spring and Robbie were going to get married and start a family and always be together.
Along the way, they accidentally mixed up the order of their plans. At 17, months from graduation, Spring got pregnant. This was okay, though, just fine. It just meant they could be a family even earlier. They perfected their plan: Spring would finish high school and then join Robbie at the community college. They would each take a lighter load of classes in order to take care of the little one they expected. Robbie wanted to know the sex, but Spring wanted it to be a surprise. She had always wanted to be a mother; it didn’t matter if it was a boy or girl.Spring’s father had died when she was young, but her mother couldn’t have been more happy about the pregnancy. She started planning the wedding and fixing up a nursery in the house. Robbie could move in to Spring’s room, and they would all be a family together.
Four months in, Spring woke with pains in her abdomen. She told her mom she felt sick, she wasn’t going in to school. Her mother went to work, and Spring went back to sleep. She woke again to much stronger pains and blood on her sheets. Panicked, she called 911 and went to the hospital.Doctor’s examined her and shook their heads, but no one would tell her anything. She shouted, wanting to know, but they just put her under.
When she woke, her mother sat across from the hospital bed, tears in her eyes. She began to speak but Spring cut her off. She already knew. She didn’t need to hear it out loud. Robbie came to visit, pale and anxious. He wouldn’t look her in the eye. He said he had to go after just 30 minutes.Spring went home later that day. A letter was waiting for her in the mailbox without an envelope. It was from Robbie.
He was sorry about the baby. But he wasn’t really ready to be a dad anyway. And he didn’t think it was right to get married just because of a kid. Spring had been holding him back, really. He had another chance to play basketball in school. It wasn’t as great as his first offer, but he needed to go on to bigger and better things than what she and this town had to offer. She didn’t see him before he left. After graduation, Spring went to work at the Rolling Rink with her mom, helping raise her younger sister, Trish, whose high school sweetheart married her at 18. They had a baby boy.
http://spencerdaey.blogspot.com/2012/03/switch_30.html
ReplyDeleteYou were actually mentioned twice: http://kindralee1.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletepost 4: "Andy had wandered over to a woman sitting on a bench. She seemed really upset. Kindra didn’t know what Andy was planning on doing, exactly, but as soon as he walked up, the woman on the bench smiled at him. Kindra could see she had been crying. Andy gestured to her shoes and the woman bent down and wiped something off of them. Kindra decided to just watch them and not interfere. Andy hardly ever openly interacted like he was with her."
and post 9:"To her surprise, there was a girl there that she recognized. It was the chick that Andy had talked to when they saw the occupiers at the park. Kindra was curious about her. She had never really observed her to figure out what about her was so appealing to Andy. The girl must have noticed her, because she looked over. Kindra smiled to ease the awkwardness of getting caught looking. The girl smiled back.
"Hey, I'm Spring," the girl said.
"I'm Kindra," Kindra said, her somewhat rough voice a stark contrast to Spring's peppy one.
"So, where are you riding to?" Spring asked.
"Uhm, I haven't quite decided yet. I think I was just planning on getting out of here for a while, and I would decide later. I was tempted to go to the airport. Hey, do you know any cities around here that are different –"
"Wait! I knew I recognized you! You are that kid Andy's mom. He's a cutie! He talked to me at the park! At least, I assumed you were his mom, cause otherwise it'd be awkward...."
"Oh, yeah... I'm his mom. He is cool. I was saying, do you know any cities around here that I could fly to cheap? That aren't like this place? You know?"
"Yeah yeah, you should try... uhm... actually, I'm not really sure. I don't get out of here much."
"Oh okay. Well thanks," Kindra said, turning away to cut off the conversation. She wasn't really in the peppy mood."
Arlen suggested that we walk through Sherwood Forest to get home – he thought it would calm me down a bit. We were so busy looking at trees and squirrels and other distracting things though, that we didn’t see the runner speeding down our path. She apparently didn’t see us either because the next second, we all three were on the forest floor, dirt in our faces. Breathing in the leaves and lying on the tree roots reminded me of the old man with his flying bulls who granted my wish to go to a happier time. Smiling to myself, I stood up and brushed my shirt off saying, “I’m so sorry. We were hardly looking where we were going!”
ReplyDelete“Oh that’s alright,” said the runner. “I wasn’t watching either. I’m Spring, by the way.” She stuck out her hand and I shook it.
“I’m Sile. And this is my brother Arlen.” Arlen smiled but Spring gave him a funny look. She looked at my face again with a similar expression and said, “Yeah, well, I better go. It was nice meeting, uh... both of you...”
She moved to the right of me. She glanced at me once last time before plugging her earphones back in and taking off. Her first step though, was directly at Arlen. She must be very unobservant because she started to run into him for the second time. Right as their bodies should have collided though, a strange thing happened. Spring ran straight through him. One minute she was in front of him, about to collapse into his body, and the next she was behind him, running happily through Sherwood.
“Lucy?” whispered a voice, “I really hate to do this to you, and I know I’m not your boss, but you really need to get back to work. You’ve been staring at that same wall for the past 15 minutes and I really need your help.”
ReplyDeleteFantastic. Now I’m blacking out in public too. Maybe mom was right to schedule an evaluation for me. I mean, this can’t be normal, right? I don’t think that I can handle any more of these roller coaster emotions.
Luckily, Spring was the one who caught me. I know she won’t report me to our boss; she’s kind of weird, and a little depressed herself, so I think that she understands what I’m going through.
-Lucy Collins