All through the summer Dana’s mother had kept asking her if she was all right I’m fine Why wouldn’t I be I mean with what happened to Janelle and everything Dana was puzzled It didn’t happen to me Mom It did in a sense These things touch people in different ways Dana shrugged She didn’t understand what her mom was getting at I’m okay She knew everything would be fine again once Janelle was home Dana’s dad kept saying things like Next week doesn’t look so bad or I think I can be caught up in a few more days But it rained enough to keep the grass green and growing and the weeds seemed to do double time in the heat Then the truck broke down It stayed in the shop for a whole week while Dana’s dad rescheduled with his customers and worked to catch up on his bookkeeping at the kitchen table But now the truck was fixed And even though he was swamped with jobs again 4 Sylvia Taekema
Dana’s dad insisted he would take the afternoon off so that Dana could visit Janelle Dana when your friend is in the hospital I hate hospitals Dad Dana cut in They smell funny And I hate all those tubes and machines and beeping noises The whole place makes me feel sick I’m not like Mom I would make a terrible nurse She shuddered and sat down on the bottom stair Her dad sighed No one’s asking you to be a nurse Dana Dad Nelly knows me She knows I think hospitals are creepy Remember when Dale broke his wrist in the basketball game last winter and you and Mom and I brought him to Emergency How you had to call Mrs Murphy and Janelle to come get me because I was starting to look like more of a patient than Dale was Her father laughed I remember And Janelle knows all about our old truck too She won’t care She’ll understand Her father shook his head I hope you’re right He took off his good jacket and hung it back 5 Ripple Effect
in the closet Then he took his work jacket off the hook by the door and tossed it over his shoulder C’mon Dad Dana tried to make her voice sound light Chances are we’d drive all the way down there and not even see her because she’d be busy with a physiotherapist or something She’s working really hard so she can come home And Mrs Murphy told Mom they’re hoping Janelle will be at school when it starts next week I’ve called a bunch of times and I’ve been writing to her you know to keep her spirits up and keep her up-to-date Yeah Yeah Of course She’s my best friend Dad I know He ran a hand through his wavy hair and then turned toward the door I guess I’ll see you at supper then Okay I’ll start packing my stuff for the weekend Dana turned around and went back upstairs to her room She heard her dad drive away in the truck and she let out a long slow breath Dana knew she should visit her friend but she really 6 Sylvia Taekema
hated hospitals and seeing Janelle there was just sad She wasn’t supposed to be there It wasn’t the same She wasn’t the same Where was the smiling energetic Nelly she knew Dana pulled some shorts and her swimsuit out of a drawer and stuffed them into her duffel bag She rolled up a beach towel and a sweater and shoved those in as well She was going camping for the weekend with her aunt Sandy They went every summer just before school started She pulled her sleeping bag out of her closet and then sat down on her bed and sighed She felt angry with herself but she also felt bad for not telling her dad the truth She had meant to write to Janelle She’d started more than once She’d pulled out several sheets of the pink paper that she’d gotten as a birthday gift a few years ago They were heart-shaped and smelled like bubble gum But she couldn’t send that to Janelle at the hospital Too cheery And the regular lined paper she’d found in her desk drawer felt too boring Like she was doing a school project Dana didn’t know what to say in the letter either Janelle had been in a terrible accident 7 Ripple Effect
