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FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON A WEEK LATER Carla and I watch as Mr. Waterman makes his way across the lawn and to his car to leave. I hugged him before he left. He was surprised, but didn’t question it, just hugged me back like it was perfectly natural. I stay outside for a few minutes after he’s left and Carla waits with me. She’s trying to find a way to gently break my already broken heart. “So—” she begins. I know what she’s going to say. She’s been gearing up to say it all day. “Please don’t leave me, Carla. I still need you.” Her eyes are on me but I can’t bear to look at her. She doesn’t deny what I’ve said, just takes my hand in hers. “If you really, truly need me to stay, I’ll stay.” She squeezes my fingers. “But you don’t need me.” “I’ll always need you.” I don’t try to stop the tears from coming. “But not like before,” she says gently. Of course she’s right. I don’t need her to be here with me for eight hours a day. I don’t need constant care. But what will I do without her? My tears turn into enormous sobs and she holds me in her arms and lets me cry until I reach the end of them. “What will you do?” She wipes at my face with the sides of her hands. “I might go back to working in a hospital.” “Did you already tell my mom?” “This morning.” “What did she say?” “She thanked me for taking care of you.” I don’t try to hide my scowl. She holds my chin. “When are you going to find it in your heart to forgive her?” “What she did is not forgivable.” “She was sick, honey. She’s still sick.” I shake my head. “She took my whole life away from me.” Even now, thinking about all the years I’ve lost makes me feel like I’m on the lip of an enormous chasm, like I could fall in and never come back out. Carla nudges me back to the present. “Not your whole life,” she says. “You still have a
lot left.” We go back inside. I follow her around, watching her pack her things for the last time. “Did you ever read Flowers for Algernon?” I ask. “Yes.” “Did you like it?” “No. Not my kind of book. Not enough hope in it.” “It made you cry, didn’t it?” She shakes her head no, but then confesses, “OK, yes, like a baby.” We both laugh.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, c
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C O N T E N T S Cover Title Page Co
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More Than This Nurse Evil Neighborh
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Takeoff Forgiveness Life is Short T
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THE WHITE ROOM I’VE READ MANY mor
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SCID ROW MY DISEASE IS as rare as i
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“Perfect.” My mom peers over my
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STAYS THE SAME I’M READING ON my
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ALIEN INVASION, PART 2 I’M UP TO
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THE WELCOME COMMITTEE “CARLA,”
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NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH HIS MOM’S SCHE
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I SPY HIS FAMILY CALLS him Olly. We
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The bell rings again. My mom half r
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PIÈCE DE REJECTION BACK IN MY room
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I don’t think Carla has ever said
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FIRST CONTACT TWO DAYS PASS and I
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NIGHT FOUR I CAN’T STAND it. I pe
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NIGHT SIX THE BUNDT IS lying on a w
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FIRST CONTACT, PART TWO From: Madel
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Wednesday, 8:15 P.M. FIRST CONTACT,
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Olly: curiouser and curiouser madel
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Madeline: She must love somebody. I
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Olly: no. he made me quit the mathl
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Olly: come to the window Madeline:
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figure is different. This time he
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“Well, if I didn’t know before
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TWO HOURS LATER I TRY AGAIN. “It
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LATER STILL “PLEASE, CARLA—”
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“You trying to talk me out of it?
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OLLY THE SUNROOM IS my favorite roo
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he’s still, I can feel the need t
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DIAGNOSIS
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WONDERLAND AND IT’S THE wanting t
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MAKES YOU STRONGER THERE’S NO E-M
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NO YES MAYBE Monday, 8:09 P.M. Made
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TIME CARLA MAKES US wait a week bef
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FORECAST OLLY’S ON THE wall again
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There are too many inputs to the fo
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SECRETS MY CONSTANT IMING with Olly
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NUMEROLOGY NUMBER OF: minutes it to
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OLLY SAYS HE’S NOT ON the wall wh
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Olly finds himself getting angry, t
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going to go back to school soon. He
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UPSIDE DOWN NORMAL PEOPLE PACE when
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my finger in the palm of his hand.
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FRIENDSHIP Later, 8:16 P.M. Olly: y
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LIFE AND DEATH OLLY’S NOT ON the
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HONESTLY Later, 8:03 P.M. Olly: no
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preparing for a bout. He’s trying
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THE THIRD MADDY I’M ALMOST ASLEEP
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“That’s enough now,” my mom s
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MIRROR IMAGE I PULL THE curtains as
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MORE THAN THIS MY MOM WORDLESSLY kn
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NURSE EVIL MY NEW NURSE is an unsmi
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I stare at the note, remembering th
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HIGHER EDUCATION WITH OLLY BACK in
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ALOHA MEANS HELLO AND GOOD -BYE, PA
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LATER, 9:08 P.M. OLLY’S ALREADY W
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THE GLASS WALL A WEEK LATER, someth
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HALF LIFE IT’S A STRANGE thing to
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THE FIVE SENSES HEARING The alarm
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“Maddy—” “I’ll explain ev
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At first I’m not sure what I’m
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HAPPY ALREADY “MADS, BE SERIOUS.
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I reach over and take his hand. “
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eyes. “I must’ve missed a lot o
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TTYL
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THE CAROUSEL “I’VE DECIDED BAGG
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MADELINE’S DICTIONARY prom•ise
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And, too, the world is in me.
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REWARD IF FOUND OUR HOTEL SITS righ
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three meals and two snacks exactly
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eathed the same filtered air for so
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GUIDE TO HAWAIIAN REEF FISH
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I’m sure I don’t want him to. *
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ZACH BACK AT THE hotel, Olly calls
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Do you have my daughter? Is she OK?
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THE MURPHY BED IT’S LATE AFTERNOO
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ALL THE WORDS I COME AWAKE slowly,
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MADELINE’S DICTIONARY in•fi•n
Page 177 and 178: THIS TIME OLLY SMILES. HE will not
Page 179 and 180: “Do you believe it?” he asks.
Page 181 and 182: THE END SOMEONE HAS PUT me in a hot
Page 183 and 184: My. Heart. Stops.
Page 185 and 186: RELEASED, PART ONE
Page 187 and 188: READMITTED MY MOM HAS transformed m
Page 189 and 190: RELEASED, PART TWO Wednesday, 6:56
Page 191 and 192: Madeline: but mine isn’t
Page 193 and 194: GEOGRAPHY I’M IN AN endless field
Page 195 and 196: LIFE IS SHORT SPOILER REVIEWS BY MA
Page 197 and 198: PRETENDING I’M STRONGER WITH each
Page 199 and 200: I’m trying not to focus on Olly,
Page 201 and 202: FIVE SYLLABLES A MONTH LATER, just
Page 203 and 204: HIS LAST LETTER IS HAIKU From: gene
Page 205 and 206: FOR MY EYES ONLY From: Dr. Melissa
Page 207 and 208: question if I have spoken after all
Page 209 and 210: IDENTITY CARLA’S BARELY IN the do
Page 211 and 212: PROOF OF LIFE ALL I HAVE to do is g
Page 213 and 214: have SCID?” Her concern morphs in
Page 215 and 216: I should feel compassion. But that
Page 217 and 218: THE VOID A UNIVERSE THAT can wink i
Page 219 and 220: “But my heart stopped.” “Yes.
Page 221 and 222: ONE WEEK A.D. I HAVE MY first weekl
Page 223 and 224: THREE WEEKS A.D. MY MOM TRIES to en
Page 225 and 226: FIVE WEEKS A.D. I ORDER REAL plants
Page 227: MADELINE’S MOM
Page 231 and 232: THE END IS THE BEGINNING IS THE END
Page 233 and 234: FUTURE PERFECT #2 From: Madeline F.
Page 235 and 236: FORGIVENESS I STARE OUT the window
Page 237 and 238: THIS LIFE EVEN AT 9 A.M. on a Satur
Page 239: choices you make and all the choice
Page 242 and 243: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS YOU ARE TRULY a tho
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