The Sky’s the Limit: My Journey with Maryellen

When the kids are finished washing the sand off their feet, I take Maryellen’s arm and hold her back so that we’re the only ones outside. I tell her that I’m going home now. Maryellen lightly says that she’ll see me tomorrow. But then I slowly say that I don’t think so. My family and I will be in Cedar Top for Thanksgiving. And if we don’t end up moving here, then I won’t see her again.

Maryellen gasps. She frowns as if she’s struggling to understand what I’ve said. Finally, she sputters out that’s terrible. We’ve had so much fun. We’re such good friends. I tell Maryellen that we will always be good friends, because we’ll always remember each other. But now I have to say goodbye.

Maryellen doesn’t respond. But she hugs me. And at last, she says goodbye, gives me another quick little hug, and scurries inside the house. It’s as if she’s afraid she’ll cry if she stays a second longer. I take a shaky breath and go into the trailer. I change out of Carolyn’s bathing suit and hang it in the tiny bathroom. My ski uniform feels tight when I put it on. And then, I click the stopwatch.

And in just a moment, I’m back on the ski race awards platform. No one has moved or blinked an eye or taken a breath since I left. Everyone is looking at me. Their expressions haven’t changed, but I have. Because of my time with Maryellen, I know now that I can face things that I’m afraid of. Even though I’m still scared to confront the judge and Coach Stanislav, I remember how I felt when I walked into the ocean. I was scared, but I didn’t let it stop me. Now, looking at my family, the coach, and the judge, I tell them to listen to me, and I will explain what happened in the race.

Only my parents and grandma seem to be listening. Disappointment chills me like a trickle of icy, cold water running down my back. But then I think of Maryellen and how she overcame her fear of public speaking, and that gives me courage to speak up. Even louder, I say that Emma is right. I didn’t win the race.

Emma starts to speak, but I hold up my hand and tell her that I can speak for myself. I explain that I didn’t win, but I didn’t cheat either. I made a mistake. I ask them to come with me back up the mountain to let me show them where I made my mistake and why. I hold my breath for a moment, but the judge then says that we’ll all come.

After everyone has seen where the flag marking the trail is buried in the snow, and that there are ski tracks showing that someone was standing right where I said he’d been, pointing in the wrong direction by mistake, the judge says that they owe me an apology. I was telling the truth. I am disqualified, but my name has been cleared.

Later, at home, I’m lying on my bed, looking at the stars I put onto the ceiling. I’m wondering how to make my peace with Emma when she pokes her head in. Emma asks if she can come in and I tell her of course. It’s her room after all. Emma corrects me: it’s our room. But she’s afraid she hasn’t made me feel very welcome in it. Emma explains that she was mad that we had to share, so she took it out on me even though it’s not my fault that I had to give up my room. I tell Emma that’s okay. I think about Maryellen’s room with three girls and the old dog in it. Sharing a room is tricky.

Emma continues and apologizes for saying that I cheated. She thought that maybe I took the shortcut on purpose so that I could win. She thought that I was trying to beat her because I was mad at her for being mean about the room. I grin briefly, and say I haven’t been great about sharing the space either. I moved into the room and brought all my stuff in so that Emma felt squashed. I even put the stars up on the ceiling without asking her. Emma admits that she doesn’t really know what’s so cool about the stars.

I think about how everybody in Maryellen’s class loved the star show, and I realize that I’ve never talked to Emma about the stars. Maybe she’ll understand why I want to telescope and why I want to go to astronomy camp and not ski training camp next summer if I can just show her why I love the night sky.

I tell Emma to hit the lights, and as she flips the switch, the ceiling in our room turns into a starry sky. I show Emma that there’s a group of seven stars right above her called the Little Dipper, and the group by the door is called the Big Dipper. Emma says it’s kind of fun. They’re shaped like cups with handles. I tell Emma that there might be someone else who finds it fun, too. Daria. Emma groans. I tell Emma that maybe it’s time for us to forgive her for destroying the laptop.

Emma stands behind me as I knock on Gran’s door. She and Daria’s mother look up from their work and Daria looks up from a picture book she’s holding. I ask if Daria would like to come to our room. We’re putting on a star show. Gran seems surprised. Daria leaps to her feet and, once her mom says it’s okay, I take her hand and we walk together down the hall.

When Daria sees the ceiling of stars, she oohs and aahs. She sits on the floor with me and Emma and I tell them both some of the stories behind the constellations. Then we make up our own stories, which Emma turns out to be great at, and we all have so much fun that we’re surprised when Gran and Daria’s mother come to tell us it’s time for Daria to go home.

After Daria and her mom leave, Gran thanks us. It was nice of us to include Daria. Emma says that it was all my idea. Gran smiles at me and I think it’s a great time to bring up my other idea. I tell Gran that I’d like to earn money to buy a telescope. I ask if I can babysit for Daria when she comes over here with her mother. Gran says if her mother agrees, then it’s worth a shot. And if it goes well, we can make it a regular job and I can be paid three dollars an hour. She asks me if that sounds fair.

I smile and say that sounds great. My heart lifts. It actually looks like Gran is proud of me. She says that I’m very enterprising. I’m sure to get the telescope that I want. I know Gran is right. I will earn enough money to buy the telescope of my dreams eventually. And I’m sure that whenever I look through the telescope, I’ll think of Maryellen, far away in time and space, but never far from my mind and heart.