Reach for Tomorrow

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Authors: Lurlene McDaniel
terrific.”
    She blushed, cleared her throat, and asked, “Do you have a favorite poet?”
    “I keep coming back to Emily Dickinson. There’s something special about her stuff. Some of it’s sad, but really honest.”
    Meg opened the book to Dickinson’s section. “I know what you mean. Take this one: ‘Because Icould not stop for Death,/He kindly stopped for me—’ ”
    “Don’t!” Morgan blurted out.
    Startled, she looked up to see a look of pure pain on his face. “Wh—What’s wrong?”
    “Not that poem.” He shoved his chair back and stood. “It has … memories for me.”
    Meg’s heart hammered. Why had she started with
that
one? “Do you want to tell me about it?”
    “It was Anne’s favorite.”
    “Is she your girlfriend?” Meg felt a terrible letdown. He was substituting her for this Anne. It was Anne he wanted to be with this evening.
    “She … She was somebody I cared for a lot. But she died.”
    “Oh, no, Morgan. I’m so sorry.”
    “She was special to me.” His words were halting, as if he was having trouble getting them out. “I was able to spend the last weeks of her life with her, and I read poetry to her sometimes. She was in a lot of pain, you see, and the poetry soothed her. That poem was a special one to her.”
    Tears welled in Meg’s eyes, for Morgan’s loss, for her own loss of Donovan. “I—I had a friend who died too,” she said. “He needed a liver transplant, but they couldn’t find a donor for him in time. Myfather was his surgeon. Daddy did everything he could, but nothing could save Donovan.”
    The intensity of the painful memories shocked her. Meg had thought all that was behind her and that time had dulled her hurt, but it had returned as sharp as a sword to pierce her with new pain.
    Morgan crouched in front of her, feeling like a jerk. Why had he poured out his guts about Anne? He’d only reminded Meg of someone she’d lost. A boyfriend? Morgan couldn’t guess. “Looks like we both know something about losing,” he said. “I didn’t mean to bring back bad memories for you.”
    “They’re good memories too,” she said, dipping her head so that he wouldn’t see the tears brimming in her eyes. “Donovan wanted so much to live. He got cheated.”
    “Anne wanted to live too. She fought hard. Harder than any wild horse I’ve ever known. I like to think that death didn’t come to take her, but, like the poem says, she went out to his coach and got in of her own free will.”
    Meg nodded in understanding. “I’m glad I came to help at this camp. Whenever I look at the kids, I see regular kids who want to have fun.”
    “You’re giving them that. You should be proud.”
    “You are too,” she said. “It’s the least we can do,don’t you think?—help others out. Donovan is still helping. He made sure there was a special house for families to stay in so they could be with their sick children. Did Anne do anything special like that?”
    Morgan was drawn up short. Anne had given him money for his genetic test for Huntington’s chorea, but he couldn’t tell Meg about that. He stood, pulled Meg to her feet, and turned her face upward so that he could look down into her eyes. “This evening didn’t turn out like I planned,” he said. “I’ve made you sad, and for that I’m sorry.”
    “It’s all right.” He had subtly shifted the subject. She knew he was through talking about Anne. And himself.
    “I think we should call it quits tonight. I’m not in the mood to read any more poetry.”
    She felt rebuffed, as if he’d walked to the edge of a special place with her, then retreated. Or maybe he just didn’t want to be with her. “All right. Maybe some other time.”
    She told herself to walk away, but she couldn’t.
    “Come here,” he said, and gently tugged her against him.
    Meg began to cry then, soft, muffled sobs. She wept, her face buried in his chest, soaking the soft fabric of his shirt with her tears. She wept for all

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