The Adopted Daughter

Three days passed, the nurses had been checking in on me including my parents, Jaime, Chris and their parents and some of my classmates to see how I was doing. I had been feeling better, was talking and laughing more which was something good for my parents, Jaime, Chris and their parents. I was even more excited when I found out that I could leave the hospital on Thursday. Dr. Wells had told me that “I was doing better and would be discharged to leave the hospital on Thursday.” That was the best news ever, however, for the next two to three months; I would have to be on crutches and would need to return back to the hospital at the beginning of December. I was discharged on Thursday, spent Friday and the weekend at home with the help of my parents practicing how to walk on crutches.

On Monday I returned to school and because I was on crutches I was allowed to use the elevator which was a relief as I was just not seeing how I was going to be climbing up and down the stairs especially during the break when getting from one class to another.

From October till the beginning of December, I was unable to participate in P.E. classes, archery classes, or any other vigorous activities, so pretty much would just walk around in my crutches either to the cafeteria, toilet, computer room, music room, art room, Spanish classrooms and hang out on the playground while watching everyone else play. On the weekends was at home, well I had homework that kept me busy all weekend, Chris and Jaime came to my place where we studied and worked together on the homework. Despite all that had been going on, I was still able to attend the two after school activities, art club and art and crafts club, then from time to time checked out the archery classes, and was able to participate in the classroom presentations, complete and submit my homework on time.

From the time I had the cast on my foot, I had been counting down the days when it was finally going to be removed, and the color of my cast went from white to rainbow colors filled with signatures, names and drawings of hearts, cartoons from classmates and friends in fifth grade. The cast was going to be a souvenir that I would keep in my room once taken out of my foot, would be a good story to tell one day in my life I thought.

The day finally arrived in December when I was getting my cast off; I had been dying to get it off, as two months of not washing my foot, not walking, not running and it was very itchy, I couldn’t wait to get it off. On that Friday I didn’t go to school as the appointment with Dr. Wells was scheduled for the morning. My mum and dad drove me to the hospital where Dr. Wells had been waiting for us in his office.

Dr. Wells: Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, hello, welcome, take a seat.

Mum and dad: Good morning Dr. Wells.

Dr. Wells: Hello Diana, how are you feeling?

Diana: Well, I am so ready to get this cast off, but other than that I am feeling great. Dr. Wells I have something that I want to tell you which may sound a bit weird.

Dr. Wells: OK (placing his hands in his pocket).

Diana: I remember last month while I was at home in my bedroom I accidentally put my foot on the floor (everyone in the room looking at me in shock), but the funny thing was I didn’t feel any pain, and I didn’t realize it until I noticed myself standing still on both legs.

Mum: What? When did this happen?

Dad: Why didn’t you tell us anything?

Diana: At that time I didn’t think of it as anything serious didn’t think there was anything for you to worry about and I totally forget about it later.

Dr. Wells: You are saying this happened last month at your home? Did you feel anything like a pain the next day when you went to school or were at home?

Diana: Nothing.

Dr. Wells: Alright (looking at my parents quite worried). We are going to take off the cast…. (Interrupted by Diana)

Diana: Sorry Dr. Wells, any chance that I can keep this cast as a souvenir reminder of my elementary school life?

Dr. Wells: Sure. Let’s get you on the bed, and get ready to cut the cast off, will be painless.

Dr. Wells and the nurse cut and removed the cast and was nicely placed in a plastic bag and given to my mum. Dr. Wells examined my foot, moved it left and right, up and down, asking if I felt any pain or anything and told him ‘no pain at all!’ He continued asking me to stand on both my feet, to walk from the bed to the door and back and he looked at my parents unsure what was going on or what to say, the same expression my parents made to Dr. Wells.

Dr. Wells: We will do an x-ray just to make sure that the bone is completely healed

I noticed my parents were a bit worried and wasn’t sure why, I guess they thought I might have injured my foot and made it even worse. Nevertheless an x-ray was done; the results were brought to Dr. Wells’ office, placed on the screen, lights on and they all looked in amazement. My foot had completely healed, almost like brand new, no scars, and no tissue muscle or ligament issues.

Dr. Wells: Diana, your foot and ankle is as good as new, and I believe you are completely healed; you can walk, run, and move around, just try to be more careful next time, OK?

Diana: OK, thank you Dr. Wells.

Mum and Dad: Thank you so much Dr. Wells, thank you.

I was very excited in receiving the good news, knowing on Monday I didn’t need the crutches anymore and could run, walk and move freely with both feet. My parents were more relieved after hearing the good news, pleased and satisfied that no damages were left on the foot and my ankle was as good as new, they gave me a hug and kiss for my bravery and recovery, although warned me to be very careful next time. However, I did notice a bit of a concern on their faces, and I asked them if everything was alright, they just nodded and both said “nothing is wrong Diana”. I didn’t want to pester them on this issue, the fact that I was healed and was able to walk and run, and go to school next week recovered and feeling better was all that matter. With only two more weeks before the winter holiday, all that mattered now was getting back to school and enjoying my last two weeks of fifth grade with my classmates, Jaime and Chris and hopefully being able to catch up on anything I missed from school.

Upon returning to school the following week I was excited to participate in my after school activities before the winter holiday. I had registered for archery club as one of my after school activities at the beginning of the semester but due to a foot and ankle injury was unable to fully participate in the club. When the second semester came around I made it a point that I was not going to miss any classes and would do the best to make sure to make up for what was learned last semester. The archery club was twice a week Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday was our first class and our coach was Mr. Hanson a tall built guy, had black hair, wasn’t much of a guy who smiled and he was strict. Mr. Hanson welcomed everyone; spoke about the lessons and what we shall be doing this semester. Once that was out of the way that next task was practicing and reviewing the use of the bow and arrow. At first was quite nervous, but since I signed up for the club I not only needed to learn and fit in but most importantly was to make sure I had fun. I took up the bow practiced holding it then took up the arrow placed it right between the bow, was already aiming at the target but had to make sure I stood in the right position. I closed my eyes for a breather, then opened them and put the bow and arrow down on the table. I stood watching the other students practicing in their groups; I had not been placed in any group as I needed to first practice with Mr. Hanson and two other students from high school. After twenty minutes Mr. Hanson gathered all of us together and the next task was target practicing which meant learning how to aim and shoot at the target. At the very end of the wall were six round targets each circled and highlighted in different colors from white, black, blue, red, yellow. Each color was marked with different points, yellow being the highest points as it was the middle circle target and the white circle target being the least points, or rather once you hit the blue or black mark, you needed more practice and had less to zero points.

The archery club had about thirty people who were way more than I had expected, but from what people said, this was the first time archery was introduced to the school and was even an activity that students had raced to register their names as spaces were limited to thirty. Thank goodness, I registered among the first people. Mr. Hanson placed five people per group, making it a total of six groups. Under supervision, we were now practicing how to hold the bow and arrow in a shooting arena with the given target. Each group lined up, took their bows and arrows and once the green light was on, first person shot the arrow that landed on the blue circle target, second person’s shot landed between the blue and black circle target, third person did so well landing straight on the red circle target and the fourth person almost landed on the yellow circle target but missed by a few inches landing on the red circle target. Then it was my turn, my palms were already sweating, was quite nervous as never had I done anything like this before a crowd of people. I calmed down telling myself “you can do it Diana, come on, you can do it”. I held the bow, carefully placed the arrow, looked down, then looked up at the target, then focused in my mind steady, ready, aim, fire and the arrow was gone landing right in the yellow circle target, straight right in the middle of the circle. Everyone jumped, Mr. Hanson and the two high school students looked at the target and indeed I had shot in the yellow circle target. They all looked at me and truly from their expressions, they had never seen anything like this especially from a nine year old student. Mr. Hanson asked everyone to do another round and when it came to my turn, he stood right next to me, but I pretended not to notice, aimed, fired and again landing in the yellow circle target.

Mr. Hanson: Very impressive Diana

Diana: Thanks Mr. Hanson

To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what was going on as well, “how was I able to strike the yellow circle target two times in a row?” “How was it even possible?” I asked myself. I had loved archery for a very long time, but had never held a bow and arrow in my life until I joined the archery club in my school. What was even strange was that I was able to shoot the target faster than anyone when we had competitions, was able to aim the arrow straight at the target even with the countless distractions going around.

After two months of joining the club, Mr. Hanson divided us into various levels based on how well and fast we learned: beginner, intermediate and advanced. The beginner and intermediate level students were taught by the two high school students, while the advanced students were taught by Mr. Hanson. In the advanced group including myself there were eleven other students bringing a total of twelve students in the group six boys and six girls –what were the odds of that ever happening but it evened out quite well. Now being in the advanced group didn’t mean getting any special privileges, it was even worse for us than the beginners and intermediate groups. We not only had to learn to use the bow and arrow but also had to do some special exercises using the bow and arrow which seemed cool at first but very tiring. That was not ALL, also had to learn to shoot with a blind fold or with your eyes closed your choice, almost like being in a military training camp. What was going through my head “I am nine years old, a member of the archery club at the Chicago Elementary school and in the advanced club and I am learning how to shoot a bow and arrow blindfolded???? Does this sound normal to you Diana? How on earth is this even possible?” Well, it was proven right here on the archery field the day I was blindfolded, shot an arrow straight at the yellow circle target five times in a row without fail!!! Of course as a nine year old student was very excited full of joy that I was finally able to use my bow and arrow, shooting directly at the target with no mistakes, attaining the highest scores in the group!! “I knew there was a reason for joining this club” I said to myself going home feeling proud and happy with my results.

The results shocked everyone in the group including Mr. Hanson. The following day my parents were called to the school to have a meeting with Mr. Hanson to discuss my “progress”-not so sure what that meant. I was not part of the meeting as was in class at that time. When my parents picked me up from school that day, they were awfully quiet the entire drive home, not a single word was said. I wasn’t sure if it was a good sign or not, but nevertheless decided not to sweat it, wait till we all got home and take it from there.

When we arrived home, went straight to my bedroom, changed, took a bath, wore my pajamas, had a snack with some juice and started working on my homework. After about three hours I completed my homework, it was checked by my parents, they signed it and also signed my diary to confirm that all my homework was completed. Then the conversation started “How was school today?” my mum asked. “It was pretty good” I replied. “Anything interesting that happened or has been happening at school lately?” my dad asked. “Nothing much is going on, why?” I replied. I was trying to figure out what my parents were asking and what was going on with all these questions. So I sat on the sofa, looked at them “Dad, mum, what is going on? Why the many questions?” I asked. “Did someone at school tell you something or did you hear something at school?”

“Well, we met with Mr. Hanson, your archery club coach and he told us everything that has been happening in the club since you joined” replied my mum. “Did he say that I did something wrong” I asked my parents. “No, he said that he was very impressed with your archery skills and asked if you were having extra classes out of school” my dad replied. “We told him, you don’t take any extra archery lessons after school as you have a busy weekly schedule” said my mum. “He mentioned that you are very talented and that you should take up extra classes outside of school as he sees you have potential of one day becoming a great archery player”, said my dad. “Dad, mum to be really honest I don’t know how it was possible that every time I shot at the target it landed in the yellow circle target the main target, even when I was blindfolded. I was quite nervous in the beginning but every time I started shooting at the target my fear, my nerves were as calm as ever and I shot very fast as well”, I told them. My parents were looking at each other trying to understand or make sense of what I was saying, but something was telling me that my parents knew what was going on, knew more than what I was saying and what was happening. “Do you want to take on special archery classes outside of the archery club?” asked my mum. “I told her, really, can I?” asking very excitedly. “Of course you can if you like it, it is quite obvious from the way you have been talking about it that you love it very much” replied my mum. “Yes, yes, I want to take extra classes” I said. “OK, so we shall sign you up for archery summer classes that are available” said my dad. I jumped up and down with excitement, hugged and thanked them so much!!

For the reminder of the semester with just three weeks left, all I was thinking about was the summer holiday and the archery club nothing else, it was even difficult to concentrate in class due to all the excitement for the summer holiday. The last two weeks begun with the countdown towards the ending of our fifth grade in elementary school. There were lots of activities happening in the school, including farewell parties for the students leaving Chicago Elementary school, took great photos, assemblies with classes and grade activities and saying farewell to the leaving students during the assembly.

The last day of school was finally upon us, Friday morning with excitement got myself ready, had breakfast, and was driven off to school by my mum and dad. I got to school rushed to my classroom and surprisingly everyone had arrived quite early, after all it was the last day of school so it was not to be missed. We had brought snacks and were going to watch movies as we were only having half day of school. At around 11:00 AM, we had to start cleaning up the classroom, arranging the chairs, throwing away the rubbish, cleaning out lockers, and arranging the books and folders on the desk. What was needed to be taken home had to be packed in our bags, what was to be thrown and left in school was to be placed in the right area and neatly. We were each given our folders by Mr. Thompson, and each folder had our report cards, the class work we had done and presented in class, our art work and other pieces of information. I was quite eager to see my final report card which I took a glimpse at it and I got all “Excellent.” “What are you happy about?” asked Cynthia? “I got “Excellent” in all my subjects including ART!!!” I replied. “That’s great” said Cynthia. “How did you guys do?” I asked Chris and Jaime. They showed me their report cards and they also got “Excellent” in all their subjects! “Well done guys” I replied. Cynthia and Carl had also done quite well, but Carl struggled with French this school year which was tough while Cynthia struggled with P.E. They didn’t look very happy at all. “Hey, don’t worry; you will do better in middle school, just have to focus, practice more French during the summer holiday which should help you a lot when you take French in middle school” I told Carl. “P.E. should actually be the easiest subject to pass”, said Cynthia, but for some reason I just didn’t like Mr. Hall and his class, don’t know why”, said Cynthia. “Well do you like sports and exercises”? I asked. “I do, but my attitude towards the class and Mr. Hall was not very positive hence my low score and Mr. Hall did mention that I didn’t have a positive attitude towards the class and had shown no interest in participating or learning” said Cynthia. “Well, look at it this way next year you will be in middle school and you will have different middle school teachers including for P.E., so hopefully all will go well and you will regain your positive spirit of liking the class” said Jaime. “I truly hope so” she replied. We started talking about our summer vacation and what plans each of us had as we were tidying up the classroom. “What are you guys planning to do for the summer vacation” I asked. “I am traveling to see some of my relatives in other States and will also be taking part in a camp” replied Jaime. “I will be joining Jaime in the same camp which will be in July, and then visiting my grandparents” replied Chris. “My family and I will be traveling to visit relatives and friends in Europe”, said Carl. That’s cool, you will get to practice your French” I replied. “I don’t yet know what my parents have planned for our summer vacation”, replied Cynthia. “What about you Diana?” asked Carl. “I will be taking archery classes this month and then in the beginning of July join Jaime and Chris for the summer camp in Texas”. I replied. “Oh yeah heard you smashed the archery club with some great shots,” said Jaime. “How did you guys hear about that?” I asked. “We heard it from one of the club members in the other fifth grade classes” replied Jaime. “It is true what happened; Mr. Hall recommended that I attend an out of school archery class as he thinks I have got talent and potential of becoming a great archer one day. At first I didn’t think my parents would agree but they saw how much I love archery and agreed to register me for some summer classes, so pretty excited about that.” I told them. We each hugged each other and wished each other a happy and wonderful summer!! None of us were living Chicago Elementary school so we were all going to see each other at Chicago Middle School in the fall.

At 12:00 PM, it was time to line up at the door ready to head to the buses. We all took our bags lined up at the door and started heading to the first floor. When we arrived on the first floor, we waved our goodbyes to Cynthia and Carl as they were taking the bus, while Jaime, Chris and I were going to the car park where our parents were waiting to pick us up. I couldn’t believe that the eight years of being in Chicago Elementary school were finally over and as much as I would hate to admit it, it was some of the best years of my school life. Coming from a mixed race family, I never thought I would ever fit in this community, the school nor did I ever think that I would meet friends like Jaime, and Chris who would end up being my best buddies, being in the same classroom for my full elementary school life and along the way also meeting Cynthia and Carl being friends and in the same classroom for three years. The thought of being able to share my life, our life together and go through everything as great friends, study together, work together, do things together and enjoy each other’s company has made me understand that it was never about race, gender, or skin color but the real person in you that brought and gave you great friends, great classmates, support, love and encouragement from my parents, having great teachers that made my learning fun, easy and enjoyable!! As I left the elementary school office heading over to my parents car, I turned and hugged Jaime and Chris with a great smile saying “Thank you” for a wonderful elementary life. As I entered our car, I waved goodbye saying “see you in middle school”!! As my parents drove out of the school campus, I turned and looked at the elementary school building again waving at the school with a big smile on my face until I could no longer see the school and returned back to my seat. These eight years to me were moments to remember, moments to cherish that I will forever take with me moving on and continuing my schooling life in middle school in the fall.