Clara and Joy
had been best friends for several years, since they met in middle school.
Clara's life was normal. She had a family, went to school, had friends, and,
ultimately, did not stand out much. In fact, Clara was often known by those she
hung around with, rather than who she was. One might expect that it would mean
she hung out with some popular people, but they would be wrong. Her friends
were nice people, often falling into the nerd or geek category.
Joy was the
exception to this rule. In fact, Joy was nothing like any of Clara's friends.
Joy was short, very short. Joy's family life was difficult, at best. Joy was
smart in her own way but had a lot of learning disabilities. School was easy
for nearly all of Clara’s friends and extremely difficult for Joy.
Home
and school were not the only ways in which the lives of Joy and Clara, and her
other friends, differed. Joy never complained. Her situation was not easy, to
be sure, and she just took it in stride. Each day, Joy took as a chance to
start anew. She was a happy person who tolerated teasing quietly, embraced
laughter and opportunities to have fun when they arose, and never spoke badly
of anyone. Not even those who might deserve it.
Clara
and her other friends laughed and enjoyed every day, but they had their days
when they complained about school, teachers, friends who were not there to defend
themselves, and parents. Often, Clara forgot that Joy’s life was pretty hard,
and she would whine and rant about her parents and how they wouldn’t buy her
something or wouldn’t listen to her over some trivial matter.
Joy’s
life was so different from hers that Clara often forgot that what she thought
was important, might not be so to Joy. But Joy always listened and laughed or
nodded her head. She was an only child but seemed to understand the burdens of
having siblings. Her parents were not great. They were abusive and had
substance abuse issues, but Joy seemed to understand Clara’s problems with her
own, loving parents.
Clara
soon came to realize that Joy just did not like to be confrontational and to
bring up how lucky Clara was to be so loved and wealthy of family would be too
much for her. So, Clara began to watch out for what she said. She did not want
Joy to feel bad. If Clara felt frustrated at home, she would think, “Joy has it
worse.”
This
came up once when they were outside one summer evening and the sky was clear
and full of stars. They had been walking Clara’s neighborhood and stopped at
the park to look up at the night sky. Joy was blind, see. Clara often forgot
that despite Joy wearing these glasses on her face that made her eyes look
huge. It was often the cause of many people teasing her. Still, it was just one
more thing that Joy never complained about. It just was.
So,
while they were out, enjoying the summer night, Clara and Joy lay back on the
grass and looked up. “Look at all those stars!” Clara exclaimed. It was a
perfect night for stargazing.
Joy
was looking upward and said, “I can’t see them. What do they look like to you?”
It
was not said harshly, but Clara felt as if her heart were stabbed. Of course,
her friend was blind. Of course, Joy could not see them. For the first time
since they met, Clara felt a pang of sympathy and pity for her friend. How
could one go through life not being able to see the beauty of the stars? “Uhmm…”
Clara had no idea how to describe them. “They glitter with light. Sort of like
an asterisk.” Clara knew this did not even begin to come close to a proper description
of the stars.
Joy
took a minute to put her hand into her fanny pack and pull something out. “I
have a monocular,” Joy told Clara. “Point it to a star for me?”
Clara
had never seen a monocular before. She knew what binoculars were, of course,
but not a monocular. She waited for Joy to put the monocular over one eye and
then Clara sort of pointed it upwards for her. “There.”
After
a minute, Joy smiled and said, “Wow! That is beautiful!” She offered her
monocular to Clara, “You try it.”
Clara
put the monocular to her eye. It worked just like a pair of binoculars, but
only went over one eye, enlarging everything in the distance. She looked up at
the sky and tried to find a star. “What did the stars look like to you?” she wondered.
Joy
sighed happily, “Like a beautiful light. I can’t see it glittering, but it was
beautiful.”
To
Clara, the stars she looked at here like hyphens of light in the dark sky. “I
see them like a hyphen with this,” she told Joy. “Do they look like that to
you?”
Joy
shook her head, “Nope. Like a bright light in a dark room. The shape is not
distinct for me. I just see the light.”
Thinking
back on that night, Clara realized it made her appreciate her sight. She also
began to wonder if everyone saw things the same way. If she saw the stars as
glittering asterisks, maybe no one else did. What if it was like that for
everyone? Wouldn’t that be something?
Clara
and Joy’s friendship was normal. Despite the incredible differences they had,
Clara never treated Joy like she was different. She was, but Clara often forgot
that Joy was blind and short and had this horrible home life. They were just
two girls, hanging out together. Which is how Joy ended up smacking right into
a sign at the mall.
The
two girls had gone to the mall to hang out. Mostly, Clara wanted to go to the
bookstore and Joy was eager to go with her. After a quick trip into the
bookstore, they decided to go to the cafeteria and get something to eat before
catching the bus back to Clara’s house.
They
were walking by the stores, talking about everything and nothing at all. They
were laughing and nearing the escalators when Clara saw the sign on the post
coming up. She glances to Joy who was using her cane to sweep the area in front
of her for obstacles. “She’ll see the sign,” Clara told herself. “Her cane will
hit it in a sweep in a moment.” She considered warning Joy about it anyways but
decided not to. “Joy will see the sign when her cane hits it,” she reminded
herself.
Except,
Joy’s cane swept right over the sign’s base and before Clara could say
anything, Joy walked face-first into the sign. *CRASH* “Ow!” Joy yelped in
surprise and pain. She was short enough that the sign hit one side of her face,
from nose to cheek and from forehead to chin.
Clara
grimaced and blurted, “Oh gosh! I am so sorry! I should have said something!”
Joy
was holding her face a moment and Clara was happy to note she was not bleeding
or bruised. Still, she felt very guilty for having said nothing. Suddenly,
without warning, the whole situation felt funny to Clara and she burst out
laughing. “I’m sorry!” she blurted amidst laughter. “That was hilarious!”
Joy
looked up towards her friend and swung her arm, stilling holding the cane,
right across Clara’s upper chest.
“Ow!”
Clara blurted. She put a hand to her chest and looked at Joy, horrified. Joy
had never said or done an unkind thing ever!
Joy
snorted, “You deserved it for walking me into that sign!”
The
girls stared at each other and then both broke out into hysterical laughter.
They continued to the cafeteria, each one rubbing a part of their body that
hurt while comparing notes. Even Joy started laughing about how absurd it was
to walk face first into a random sign. She laughed about her cane missing the
sign and Clara debating whether to tell her about it.
And
Clara? She ended up with a red mark across her chest for a day or so, but it
was worth it. She did not speak up when she should have and then she laughed at
her friend’s pain. It was not on purpose, of course, and Joy realized this.
They really were just two normal girls who happened to be best friends.
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