Paraplegic (COMPLETED)

Chapter 11

"No, wait!" Aurora rushes forward, but it happens too quickly. The woman's foot slides out from underneath her and she collapses to the concrete, her frail body slamming hard against it. The bag of groceries falls along with her, spilling its contents over the wet parking lot. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Hello?" Aurora slides her hand behind the woman's head and lifts it gently, cradling her closely.

"O-o-oh. Y-yes. I think so." The woman rubs her wrinkled forehead. "Where did you come from, dear?" She peers up at Aurora with appreciation in her pale, blue eyes.

"My friend and I were walking up when you fell. I saw the whole thing. Your foot slipped on the moist concrete." Aurora helps the woman to her feet and then gathers up the runaway groceries. The woman begins to gather up groceries as well, bending over to snatch an apple that had rolled across the parking lot. I stand off to the side, unsure if I should help them or go inside the store. It looks like the two of them have it under control, so I check to see if Xander has texted yet. No new messages.

Aurora carefully places a head of lettuce and a tree of bananas back inside the brown bag. "My name's Aurora by the way."

"Oh! That's such a pretty name. I'm Mae. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help."

"It's no problem. May I take these to your car?" Aurora doesn't wait for an answer; she grabs the paper bag from Mae's hands.

"Aren't you just the sweetest thing. My car's over this way."

I stay planted on the sidewalk, while they venture over to the car. It's this long thing; grayish-black in color. It looks like a Lincoln; the type of Lincoln your grandparents own that can fit forty people inside the cab and ten more inside its humongous trunk. Aurora moves over to the passenger side of the car and places the bag on the floor. The two talk for a moment. Aurora's face blooms into a smile. That's the first smile I've seen since she received the rejection letter. Mae passes something from her hand to Aurora's; it's small and crumbled up. It looks like money. Aurora takes a step back and shakes her head politely. Mae tries again, but Aurora seems insistent. Mae then wraps her feeble arms around Aurora and they share a hug.

After Mae had driven away, Aurora hops over to where I'm standing, seemingly in better spirits than before. I wipe my forehead, feeling it stick from this intense humidity, which is really starting to mess up my hair. I can feel it trying to frizz from underneath this baseball cap. "Well, that took forever," I say. "I was just about to leave you out here and go inside where it's air-conditioned."

"You could have helped, ya know?"

"I know."

Aurora brushes past me and into the store without another word.

She can't possibly still be mad because I got accepted into college and she didn't. And it has nothing to do with the fact that my family's rich and hers aren't. Okay, maybe it does. But that's not the point. There have been tons of people through the ages who grew up poor and transformed into very successful individuals. She just needs to accept the fact that failure and rejection will come knocking on everyone's door at some point in their life. And this time, it was her door that was knocked on, not mine.

We peruse the frozen goods section. Aurora begins to stock up on ice cream like a global heat wave is coming. I drop the bag of hot dog buns in the shopping cart. "Think you got enough fro-yo there, Rora?"

"First of all, one can never have too much fro-yo. And secondly, I'm stress eating. Well, at least I will be once I crack open this lid and dive my spoon straight into its lusciousness."

"Stress eating, huh? What's this about anyway? Are you mad at me for getting into college?" She turns away and pushes the cart down the aisle without answering. "I'll take that as a yes."