“They fell out,” Andy explained, looking nonplussed. He understood better about Bjorn now, and didn't think it remarkable that he had Down syndrome. He was intrigued by the fact that he was eighteen though. He was the oldest child Andy had ever played with.
“Will the dentist give you new ones?” Bjorn asked with continued interest. “I broke one last year, and the dentist fixed it.” He showed Andy which one, and Andy nodded solemnly, it looked just like the others.
“No, mine will just grow back in. Yours probably did at my age, too. You just don't remember.”
“Yeah. Maybe I wasn't paying attention.” Page and Trygve were watching them, intrigued. They were getting on splendidly, like two old pals, sitting on deck chairs in the spring sunshine. “You play baseball?” Bjorn asked, looking at him.
“Yup,” Andy said with another smile, helping himself to a hamburger this time.
“Me too. I like bowling too. You like bowling?”
“I've never been,” Andy confessed. “My Mom says I'm not big enough yet. She says the balls are too heavy.”
Bjorn nodded. It made sense to him. “They're heavy for me too, but my Dad takes me…. Sometimes I go with Nick … or Chloe. Chloe's sick. She broke her leg last week. But she'll be coming home soon.”
“Yeah,” Andy nodded, looking serious, “my sister's sick too. She hit her head in a car accident.”
“Did she break it?” Bjorn looked sorry for him, it was bad when your sister was hurt. He had cried when he'd gone to see Chloe.
“Yeah, sort of. I haven't been to see her yet, she still feels too yucky.”
“Oh.” Bjorn was pleased that they had a common bond. They both liked to play baseball, and had sick sisters. “I'm in the Special Olympics. My Dad does it with me.”
“That's nice. What do you do there?” Bjorn explained to him how much he loved basketball and long jump, as Trygve and Page walked away and sat down across the garden.
“I'd say it's a hit.” Trygve smiled. “Andy is just about the right age. Bjorn is somewhere between ten and twelve, but he has a real soft spot for younger kids. Andy's a nice boy.” Trygve had been touched by the warm, respectful way Andy had talked to Bjorn, and it was obvious that he liked him. “You're lucky.”
“We both are. They're all good kids. I just wish that two young ladies we know hadn't told a lie last Saturday night and gotten themselves in a hell of a lot of trouble,” she said, watching their brothers—it was hard to believe that only a week had gone by since fate had torn their lives apart stem to stern, and then thrown them together. All week she had bared her soul to him, and she had paid no attention at all to how he looked. But now she realized that he was actually very good-looking.
“Sometimes, I wish I could turn the clock back,” he said quietly, and then looked at her. She had stretched out on a lounge chair, her hair fanned out on her shoulders, and her face turned to the sun. It felt wonderful to be there.
“I'm not sure turning the clock back is the answer …maybe ahead would be better, but very fast, so you get past all the bad parts.” She smiled as she said it.
“The bad parts seem to take forever, don't they?” They both laughed, thinking how true that was.
“I wouldn't mind speeding up right now to the part where Allie gets better.” She sighed, thinking about it.
“She will,” he said encouragingly. She had lived a week past the accident, and as the doctors said, that was hopeful. “But it may be a long haul. Have you thought about that?”
“Nothing but. The doctor said it might be years before she's 'normal,' whatever that is.”
“It might. I don't know about those things, but I know what it was like with Bjorn. He wore diapers until he was six, and he still had accidents until he was eleven. I worried about street traffic constantly, he burned himself on the stove trying to cook something when he was twelve. It took a long, long time to get where he is now, and a lot of patience and hard work, on his part as well as mine, and off and on I had some great people to help me. You may need that too, you may have to start from scratch with Allie.” He didn't say it, but they both knew that it was possible Allie would never be normal. She might be even less capable than Bjorn, if she recovered.
“It's pretty frightening to think about …but I'd rather have her that way than not at all.”
“I know. I understand that.” It was very comforting talking to someone who understood, and she hated to leave to go to the hospital that afternoon. But she didn't want to leave Allie alone, and she had promised to take some things to Chloe. She wanted magazines, cookies, and her makeup. She was definitely feeling better, and she said the food in the hospital was disgusting.