How I Met Tommy

The water was cold. This was not only confirmed by the loss of feeling in Kalley Ann’s toes, but also in the solid purple color of her toenails. Kalley Ann was completely focused on how to overcome the icy temperature and move farther into the water when she heard a soft voice.

“You get cold like me.”
 
Kalley Ann turned her head and jumped at the unexpected closeness of the owner of the voice. Standing only a couple feet away was a blond-haried boy, with big blue eyes, lots of freckles, and straight hair that jutted out in a hundred different directions like he had just woken up. He seemed to be about her age. She was confused by his statement but decided to talk to him, “What do you mean? The water is cold to everyone. Everyone gets cold when they first go in.” 
 
“Nah, their whole bodies don’t turn purple like us,” he declared. 
 
Kalley Ann looked down at her own body and saw the familiar bluish hue of her legs. She was always surprised when someone remarked about her color, as she was usually quite blind to it and maybe even secretly liked the way it made her look. Exotic even. At least that is the word her father had used to describe some pretty, dark-skinned models in a commercial they saw on t.v. the other night. 
 
Taking a closer look at this odd boy, she realized he was right. He too glowed a bluish purple hue; perhaps even more so than she, considering his fair complexion. His lips in particular stood out to her as the most purply thing she’d ever seen, sandwiched between very white skin and very white teeth. This discovery of having a purple partner made her happier than she might have expected. 
 
“Cool. But, how come you are purple?” Kalley Ann inquired. “I have a heart problem, so I have a lot of blue blood in my body,” she offered as her own explanation.
 
“Me too!” the boy spoke excitedly. “My heart has so many holes in it, the blood just escapes out to the body without turning red first.”
 
“So, it’s just squirting around your body? Your heart has no control?”
 
“Yeah, something like that.” He looked down and gave an embarrassed shrug.
 
“Oh, uh, cool,” Kalley Ann shrugged. Sensing that he was uncomfortable with something she had said, she added, “I like being purply blue more than pinky red. It makes me look tougher.” 
 
“Yup, Yup! And my doctors tell me I’m tough all the time. I try to remind my parents and friends of that, but they don’t get it.” He sounded relieved that Kalley Ann seemed to be as smart as his doctors.
 
“Parents are the worst at getting it. And, I don’t understand it. They're sitting right next to me when the doctor’s tell them how impressed they are with how well I am doing.” Kalley Ann added drama to her statement with a well-timed eye roll. 
 
The boy turned and looked over his shoulder, “Is that your Mom sitting under that tree?”
 
“Yup,” Kalley Ann glanced back at her Mom, “she doesn’t like the sun.”
 
“That’s my mom talking to her.”
 
“Wanna bet they are talking about us?” Kalley Ann asked with another punctuating eyeroll. It truly was her signature move.
 
“Definitely. Their lives are so boring without us.” They both laughed at his clever observation.
 
As if on cue, Kalley Ann’s mom suddenly waved to her and yelled, “Kalley Ann, let’s get going. We need to get home for some lunch and your brother needs a nap.”
 
Kalley Ann sighed. Her eyes went down-cast and her shoulders slumped. “Everytime I finally start to have fun, we have to leave,” she said in her best, irritated voice. She started slowly walking up the beach toward her mom. To her surprise, the boy walked next to her without saying anything.
 
They reached the shade of the tree together in silence, as the boy’s mother said with a big inviting smile, “Tommy, I see you met Kalley Ann!”
 
“Uh, yeah,” he paused awkwardly, “Kalley Ann.”
 
Kalley Ann realized she had heard his name for the first time too and chimed in, “Yeah, me and Tommy were having fun!” looking directly at her mother. “Why do we have to leave?” she added with obvious frustration at the situation. 
 
“Don’t start Kalley Ann. You didn’t even get in the water,” her mother said to shut down any future debate on the subject. 
 
“But, I was going to,” countered Kalley Ann. “Tommy and I were just chatting before we got in and started swimming.”
 
“Well, you'll definitely get to swim when we come back in a couple days,” her mom promised. To Tommy’s mom she explained, “We start swimming lessons on Wednesday.”
 
“Swimming lessons?!” Kalley Ann yelled, sounding almost frightened. “Why do I have to take lessons? I hate swimming; it’s very hard to breathe."
 
“Right! I think so too. Very hard to breath,” Tommy concurred.
 
“See, Mom! We already have so much in common! We would probably have a great time in the water if we didn’t have to leave!” Kalley Ann insisted with the expectation that it would somehow change their plans to leave.
 
Her mother was saved by Tommy’s mother, “Hey, that’s something for both of you to look forward to. Tommy is also starting swimming lessons on Wednesday, so the two of you can learn how to breathe in the water together.” She winked at Kalley Ann’s mother, which was quickly punctuated with both of them laughing. 
 
Kalley Ann and Tommy’s mouths were still hanging open, because they did not understand what was so funny. Kalley Ann’s mother stopped laughing long enough to say, “Until Wednesday then…. It was nice to meet you Tommy and Mrs. Smalls.”
 
Kalley Ann turned her head and realized her mother had packed up all their stuff and was handing towels for her brother and sister to carry back to the car. Kalley Ann picked up the cooler to help. But, then in protest of having to leave before she wanted, she began walking excruciatingly slowly behind her mother and siblings to the car. 
 
“Say good-bye to your new friend and pick up the pace, Kalley Ann,” her mother directed, raising her voice for the first time. Simultaneously, Tommy chirped, “Bye, Kalley Ann,” and he added a little wave. Kalley Ann shot him an unhappy smile and a half-hearted nod good-bye. Secretly she was excited she had a new friend to look forward to seeing in a couple days. Maybe this summer - and the dreaded swimming lessons that would come with it - would be pretty good after all.