Free Flight to Freedom by Ana Veciana-Suarez

other important news, too, which Tío Pablo read to us from the newspaper. The world’s first successful heart transplant was conducted in South Africa by a doctor named Christiaan Barnard. Abuela María said, “What will they think of next!”
    All night I have thought of the man with the transplanted heart. And sí, I will admit that I cried, but just a bit and very quietly. The man with the transplant is just like me—or should I say, I am just like him. My heart, the one now beating in my chest, feels like it belongs to someone else. It has been transplanted here,and everybody seems to want to force it to feel something it cannot feel. I may know a little more English, and I may now have a friend or two, but I do not belong here, in this country with street signs I do not always understand and people who do not understand me.
Friday, 8th of December
    Jane got in trouble at school because of something another girl said about me. It was so unfair. Jane now has to complete an extra page of mathematics homework. We were working quietly when Claudia—that’s the girl’s name—said that it was a good thing I got good grades in class because I sure didn’t know how to dress. I was so upset by this remark that I didn’t know how to reply, but Jane said it was a good thing Claudia had a quick tongue because that way she could keep her buckteeth inside her mouth. Claudia then shouted something I did not understand, and Jane called her a stupid hillbilly. That’s when Mrs. Boatwright came into the class. She had been outside talking to another teacher and only heard what Jane said, not a word by Claudia. I wantedto talk to Mrs. Boatwright after class, but Jane wouldn’t let me. She said that if I did, the other pupils would think I was a tattletale.
    Speaking of tattletales. Tonight, after everyone was asleep, Ileana woke me up and asked me to sneak out with her to meet Tommy because she was scared of going alone. I couldn’t believe my ears, and of course I went. Though it was past 11 P.M., we met him at the corner and took a ride to the airport to watch the planes land and take off. Tommy and Ileana kissed in the backseat while I sat in the front, very bored and very nervous. Finally I turned around and told them we needed to return home. Tommy was not happy.
    â€œYour sister needs a boyfriend,” he told Ileana.
    I wouldn’t dare.
Saturday, 9th of December
    Today we traveled downtown on a public bus. I was very sleepy from being out late, but the streets were decorated for Christmas, with silver bells on light poles and red garland draped over storefronts, so I paid attention. On one corner there was even a mandressed up as Santa Claus with a red kettle. He was sweating in the outfit because it was so hot.
    Tía Carmen showed us this very fancy store that she says is similar to the old El Encanto back home. This fancy store in Miami is called Burdines, and it is very big. The salesladies were nice and they let us spray perfume on our wrists. Mami and Tía Carmen tried on clothes, too, and they giggled when they posed with the new outfits in front of the dressing room mirrors. Of course we did not buy anything. We had our noon meal at Walgreen’s, which has a lunch counter like the tencens we had in Cuba. I tried a dish called a grilled cheese. It was delicious!
    Later, after Efraín arrived from work, we watched television to see the daughter of President Johnson get married in the big mansion where the president lives. Her dress was beautiful, with a long train and puffy veil. Ileana said that when she gets married, she wants to wear a short red dress, something no one has ever thought of wearing to a wedding. I plan to have a long, white dress with lots of pearls stitched on the bodice, and the train will be so long that I will need six flower girls, three on each side, to carry itdown the church aisle. Papi laughed when I said this, but when I looked