3Dedication: In memory of Ethan.
"It's just not right,"
Was the collective murmur that passed
Through my school hallway today.
Rumors flew
His organs collapsed
He had diabetes
A virus
A cold
It didn't matter.
He was still gone.
Imagine his sister
In seventh grade.
Going to school Thursday morning
Her brother home sick again.
Yesterday, he had gone to the hospital
They had run tests
They let him go.
Laughing in the hallway with her friends
Unaware.
Her parents coming to pick her up in the middle of the day
A tragedy had occurred.
They were close.
Imagine his parents,
Coming into his room,
Trying to wake him up,
Finding him cold.
Imagine his class,
Children no more than ten years old
Trying, needing to understand
How he could die.
His best friend came home that day
She was okay
Talking to her mom
Then pulled out her yearbook
Saw his smiling face
That's when the tears came.
A boy sat next to him in class
Had just befriended him the week before
Now he was gone.
Imagine his PE teacher,
A formidable, loud woman Usually angry at someone.
Today an 8th grader asked if he had any special interests
We wanted to make a memorial
Her voice crackled as she answered,
"Baseball. Baseball."
Nodding her head
And clenching her jaw,
I saw her
And I realized she didn't understand any more than we did.
Imagine me,
Looking in
Standing on the line
"I-sort-of-know-his-sister,"
Unable to cry
Unable to think of anything else
But why?