I Wanted To Laugh. Or

Patrick Started Driving Really Fast, And Just Before We Got To The Tunnel. Sam Stood Up, And The Wind Turned Her Dress Into Ocean Waves. When We Hit The Tunnel, All The Sound Got Scooped Up Into A Vacuum, And It Was Replaced By A Song On The Tape Player. A Beautiful Song Called “landslide.” When We Got Out Of The Tunnel, Sam Screamed This Really Fun Scream, And There It Was. Downtown. Lights On Buildings And Everything That Makes You Wonder. Sam Sat Down And Started Laughing. Patrick Started Laughing. I Started Laughing. And In That Moment, I Swear We Were Infinite.

When I Was Done Reading The Poem, Everyone Was Quiet. A Very Sad Quiet. But The Amazing Thing Was That It Wasn’t A Bad Sad At All. It Was Just Something That Made Everyone Look Around At Each Other And Know That They Were There. Sam And Patrick Looked At Me. And I Looked At Them. And I Think They Knew. Not Anything Specific Really. They Just Knew. And I Think That’s All You Can Ever Ask From A Friend.

Despite Everything My Mom And Doctor And Dad Have Said To Me About Blame, I Can't Stop Thinking What I Know. And I Know That My Aunt Helen Would Still Be Alive Today If She Just Bought Me One Present Like Everybody Else. She Would Be Alive If I Were Born On A Day That Didn't Snow.

They Just Knew. And I Think That's All You Can Ever Ask From A Friend.

Have You Ever Done That? You Feel Really Bad, And Then It Goes Away, And You Don’t Know Why.