Mom,
If you’re reading this, it means something I hoped for actually happened.
I stopped.
I sat in the back row and unfolded the letter.
What had she been hoping for?
I kept going.
During treatment, I made friends with a girl called Sophie. We played cards when we were both too tired to do anything else. She cheats, but we can laugh about it.
Sophie.
The secret suddenly had a name.
What had she been hoping for?
She told me she’d been waiting for a transplant for almost two years.
At first, I just thought of her as another kid stuck in the same place I was.
Then I started noticing her mom.
My throat tightened.
She sits in waiting rooms like you do.
Then I started noticing her mom.
She watches every doctor’s face before they even start talking.
She brings coffee and forgets to drink it.
One day I realized I wasn’t just looking at her.
