Page 30 of You've Got a Place Here, Too

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would be able to cure her faster

than Dominican ones. But that wasn’t

the case. Mami didn’t have insurance,

Mami didn’t have records of certain tests, Mami

didn’t have a clear prognosis. All through

my junior and senior year of high school,

Mami was traveling everywhere to everyone

to get bloodwork, and MRIs, and scans.

So, what I didn’t tell the Morehouse rep was

that when I was applying to schools,

the way I picked colleges was based on the hospitals

they were affiliated with.

It was a part of everything I did, everything I was.

The next few flight classes I worked with different TAs.

But I couldn’t help looking at Melody. Her hips swaying

as she did her walk-around. The way she climbed into the cockpit.

She caught me looking and tugged on her helmet’s chin strap

as if to say,tighten up.I smiled and gave her a salute

that she knew meant “Yes, Captain.”

The other TAs were all smart and some were nice. But

Melody’s voice always cut through whatever they were saying.

My eyes zoned in on her regardless of who was giving a lecture.

And more than once I found

that she was over there looking at me. After class one day,

I was walking to Tompkins Hall, starving for a burger,

when the scent of citrus fruit and vanilla made me inhale deep.

“Hey, Angelo.” Melody’s voice rang out a few feet behind me.

I waited for her to catch up. “Hey, Captain.”

She smiled with all her teeth. “Do you want to study for

your midterms with me? I have access to the simulator.”

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