Moonface by Angela Balcita

Author:Angela Balcita
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Chapter Eight

The Illusive Sleep Stealer and his Dancing Cockatoos

Sleep is slowly being stolen from me. i try to hunt down the thief, but all I can come up with are the usual suspects: medications, the seasonal changes, the burrito for dinner. I blame it on these things, but when I lie in bed, I know what keeps me up. Charlie’s frank admission has been on repeat in my head ever since we left the doctor’s office that morning, like a song that you hate to hear but can’t get out of your head. A week after that appointment, we still don’t talk about what he said. Charlie and I walk around the tiny apartment, dodging each other in the hall; I squeeze my shoulders into my body as I pass.

During Charlie’s long bout with post-surgery constipation and the pain from an infected incision, a large envelope came in the mail, and in it was a diploma-looking certificate that acknowledged Charles Kritvise O”Doyle for giving what they called “The Gift of Life.” A grand, formal thing, it was printed on thick ivory parchment paper and embossed with the hospital seal. I told Charlie we should frame it and hang it in the living room.

“Please, Moonface,” Charlie said, looking at me as if I had said something in poor taste.

“What do you want, Charlie? A medal?”

“Hardy-har,” he said, listlessly.

I knew the piece of paper was indeed ridiculous, trivializing not just what Charlie did but also what the transplant meant for us. But the document was inaccurate. It was not just my life he had saved, but also our lives together. He was committing to our partnership. To me, this was more like a marriage certificate.

To hear Charlie say that he wouldn’t do it again was like hearing him change his mind about the whole procedure, like him taking back what he had already entrusted with me. And though that wasn’t possible, it felt like something—something heavier, more substantial than a mere kidney—was being ripped from me.

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