Yesterday Lucy had to stand up in front of the entire
English class and read her poem out loud.
"Big voice!" said Mrs. James and Lucy just stood there,
shaking wobbly knees attached to a pair of long skinny legs
in a brown skirt and a yellow sweater.
"Well, go on then!"
But Lucy just took her back pack, ran past the
crooked-legged chairs and the brown desks and through the
door with all the pictures of the A's and B's that do circus
tricks in funny outfits.
I saw her after school. Big blue tears on a scruffy yellow
sweater, she was sitting behind the old bike shed. I walked
up and sat down next to her.
"You know what I do when nothing feels right?"
"What?" Asked Lucy.
"I pull the string in my heart"
"I don't think I have any strings in mine," Lucy said, after
she carefully looked down at her chest and thought about it.
"How come you do?"
So I told her about Tom.

Shiny green eyes, long scruffy black hair and just a brat,
but he knew me, I told her. And then one day he said he had
to move away.
"To a sunny state" he said, and I didn't understand, how he
could move away. He was the boy who had always held my hand,
even when the other kids made fun of us, calling us
boyfriend and girlfriend. Together we were the best 'crazy
kids' (that's what Ms. Liddell from the dog pound across the
street called us) to ever rule the neighborhood. We were the
ones who rode our bikes to the park in the middle of the
night and counted the stars. We were the ones who dared to
tell the old grump in the convenient store that just because
we were in the fourth grade didn't mean we couldn't buy
things, since it's is a free country. We were the strong
ones against the rest, so how could he leave now?
So that's what I asked him.
Tom said "I'm sorry, I have to."
And then when I stood there, quiet, because there were no
words on my tongue I could say to make him stay, I suddenly
felt like every part of my body melted, especially my feet,
and I almost fell.
"Don't cry, Ana. Just because I'm leaving doesn't mean we
won't see each other anymore." but I still could not
understand.
"Will you be coming to visit me?" I asked.
But he said he couldn't.
"But you will see me whenever you want to, Ana, because
there is a string right here" he said, pointing to my heart,
"and it's attached to my heart. And it will always be there
because you and me, we are truth."
It was that simple.
Truth.
"This string is as long as we want it to be... It stretches
and stretches and stretches, like skies with endless
clouds."
"And what if it breaks?" I squinted.
"No one can ever break this string," Tom continued "And
whenever you want to see me just give it a little tug, and I
will come when you are sleeping."
"Cross your heart and swear to die?" - I had to make sure.
"Cross my heart and swear to die!" Tom said. And then he
gave me a big hug.
His hair in my face. Long scruffy black hair tangled up with
my red curls.The smell of the strawberry pie his mom always
made in my nose. His skinny arms holding me tight. So I held
on tightly too. I didn't want to let go, ever, but I knew I
had to. Tom's eyes looked into mine. They never looked
greener and sharper in all the time I've known him.
"Just... Don't forget, if you ever feel a tug in the string
from my side..." he looked down.
I knew.
"I won't." I smiled.
And then he turned and walked away, and my eyes got cloudy
and my face all wet, because I couldn't hold it in anymore.

Sometimes dad lets me talk to Tom on the phone, but only 5
minutes because he says it's expensive to call from way over
there. But we talk about the really big, important things at
nights.
At first we met almost every night, then it became each
week and now we only tug the string every few months. One
day I will be a famous rock star, go on the road and tour
all the states and then I can go see Tom. But even if it
doesn't happen, because mom says I think like a lawyer so I
have to be one, but I don't care, because the string in my
heart is forever.
It's truth.