Page 30 of You've Got a Place Here, Too
would be able to cure her faster
than Dominican ones. But that wasn’t
the case. Mami didn’t have insurance,
Mami didn’t have records of certain tests, Mami
didn’t have a clear prognosis. All through
my junior and senior year of high school,
Mami was traveling everywhere to everyone
to get bloodwork, and MRIs, and scans.
So, what I didn’t tell the Morehouse rep was
that when I was applying to schools,
the way I picked colleges was based on the hospitals
they were affiliated with.
It was a part of everything I did, everything I was.
The next few flight classes I worked with different TAs.
But I couldn’t help looking at Melody. Her hips swaying
as she did her walk-around. The way she climbed into the cockpit.
She caught me looking and tugged on her helmet’s chin strap
as if to say,tighten up.I smiled and gave her a salute
that she knew meant “Yes, Captain.”
The other TAs were all smart and some were nice. But
Melody’s voice always cut through whatever they were saying.
My eyes zoned in on her regardless of who was giving a lecture.
And more than once I found
that she was over there looking at me. After class one day,
I was walking to Tompkins Hall, starving for a burger,
when the scent of citrus fruit and vanilla made me inhale deep.
“Hey, Angelo.” Melody’s voice rang out a few feet behind me.
I waited for her to catch up. “Hey, Captain.”
She smiled with all her teeth. “Do you want to study for
your midterms with me? I have access to the simulator.”
