JGPoetry

"Acceptance"

It's Friday night, and she's going out,

dressing up and the whole nine yards, makeup included

thanks to her anxious and excited mother.

No sooner than the brunette woman puts down

the lipstick on the immaculate vanity

does the doorbell ring, making the girl's

service dog bark down the hall.

With a wide smile on her beautiful, glowing features,

the girl slowly makes her way to the door,

hands out in front of her so that she

doesn't bump into anything;

this apartment is new to her—a huge

adjustment from a house with two stories.

She fumbles for the doorknob while her mother

watches from the threshold of the

living room. She wishes her daughter wasn't so

stubborn and would accept help,

but the fact is, she will not.

Instead, the twenty-year-old searches for

a few seconds, finds the knob, turns the lock, and

eventually pulls open the door.

He stands there with his service dog,

flowers in his hand—flowers he tried so hard

to grow—just for her.

"Hello, Arianna," he says, stretching out his arm

to hand her the gift. She takes it, thanks him,

goes to put them in water in the kitchen.

He steps inside and greets Arianna's mother.

"Hello, David," the woman replies. She smiles slightly,

but he can tell that she doesn't like the idea of

her one and only child dating anyone, much less him.

David is a large twenty-year-old,

one who didn't go to college, who still

lives with his parents despite the fact that his

disability should not hold him back.

He is a loser, she thinks.

He knows this.

The young man is nervous, and to hide this, he kneels

to pet Arrianna's border collie, Sammy.

He tries to make conversation.

"My sister and I started a garden," he tells

Arrianna's unsociable mother.

"We planted those daisies, and she's the one that

suggested I bring them."

The woman nods, reluctant to speak.

For some reason, David is compelled to tell her

more and says, "My sister wishes she could

see the flowers."

Caught off guard, the woman gapes

at David, and shakily, she says,

"Excuse me?"

David repeats himself by saying,

"She's blind." He continues petting Arianna's dog

as he wonders whether or not he

made the right choice.

It is then that Arianna returns. "Sorry—

I couldn't find a vase. Are you ready?"

David nods as the pair of young adults exit the

apartment hand in hand, dogs by their side.

Behind them, the woman smiles.

Author's Note: (Rough work, revised only once) Because those without disabilities can understand, too. Hope you enjoyed. :)