Not the weak chuckle Lily sometimes offered when she was trying to reassure everyone.
This was full, breathless, uncontrolled laughter.
It was the sound of a girl forgetting, even if only briefly, that she was in a hospital.
Diane stopped outside the room.
Her hand rested on the door handle.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
“That’s Lily,” I whispered.
Diane nodded.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
“I haven’t heard her laugh like that since before the diagnosis.”
I looked through the narrow window but could not see much beyond several people crowded near the bed.
“What did Aaron do?”
Diane swallowed.
“I thought he was making her illness public. I thought he had invited people here to stare at her.”
“And now?”
She listened to another burst of laughter.
“Now I’m not sure.”
I placed my hand gently on her shoulder.
“He may not be turning her into a spectacle, Diane.”
She glanced at me.
“He may be reminding her that she still belongs to the world outside this room.”
Her face crumpled.
“I think I understand that now.”
She pushed the door open.
Part Five: What My Son Had Done
I stepped into the room and froze.
Aaron sat beside Lily’s bed.
Both of them were laughing so hard that Lily had one hand pressed against her stomach. A bright scarf covered part of her head, but loose strands of hair rested against her pillow.
Aaron’s head was still completely bare.
But he was no longer the only one.
Behind him stood nearly the entire soccer team.
Every boy had shaved his head.
Some had neat, smooth scalps. Others had uneven patches where they had clearly attempted the job themselves. One boy still had a narrow strip of hair above his ear that everyone kept pointing at and laughing about.
Coach Daniels stood among them, also bald, rubbing the top of his head dramatically.
Two teachers were there as well.
Even the young hospital chaplain had joined them. He stood near the window, smiling as he ran a hand across his freshly shaved scalp.
For a moment, I could only stare.
Nurse Maria held up her phone.
“You should see the recording,” she said.
She showed me a video taken only minutes earlier.
One at a time, the boys had entered Lily’s room wearing hats.
Aaron had stood beside her bed and said, “You told me I looked strange without hair, so I brought some people who could make me look normal.”
