A story about a little boy who has AIDS. He is a friend of Johnny's.
Colton Alain Woodbine is my name, and I am 10 years old. I live in Tennessee, in Nashville, with my foster family, and I will be in the fourth grade come the fall.
I also have AIDS.
I was born with it; my real mommy took drugs, and she got the disease and passed it on to me. Now I have it, and because of it, I am often very sick, and I often stay home from school. I am tutored a lot of the time, especially when I am feeling sick, and I often spend a lot of my days sleeping or just lying around because I don't feel good, and I am often too weak to be able to do a lot of things for a long period of time.
I have this nasty cough, and I am also prone to colds and stuff; and I am always having to go to the doctor's for tests or treatment; and I sometimes end up in the hospital if I get a lot of problems with my breathiing. I sometimes wear oxygen because my lungs aren't strong, and the oxygen helps. Sometimes I use my oxygen when I am out; I have a machine I can take with me whenever I need it.
Because I get sick so easily, I don't get out that much, especially when colds or the flu is going around, but when it is warm out, I like to swing on the swings or go swimming. I also like to play with my foster family. (My foster family is the Jacksons, and there's the momma and poppa, and the kids, whose names are Tiana, Charnelle, Pressley, Tomias, and Tevin Quincy. I am the second youngest; Tevin's the baby. He is seven.)
My best friends are Jose' Varquez and Johnny Sandusky; and they are going to be in the fifth grade in the fall. They are my age, but they are smarter than me. Jose' is Mexican and speaks Spanish, but Johnny is American and he has the whitest hair and the bluest eyes. His hair looks like a puff of cotton, it is so white and soft! Johnny also wears glasses, and he is in a wheelchair, but he still plays baseball on a special Little League team, and he is very good at it. He also loves video games and trading Pokeman cards. Jose', meanwhile, likes playing basketball and field hockey, and he loves conjunto, rock, and mariachi music. They are total opposites, but they get along very well. I like them because they treat me like a normal kid instead of like a kid who has AIDS, and they always invite me to go swimming or to the baseball games Johnny happens to be in, and I like that; but inside I get all sad because there have been times where people have NOT been so nice. In times past, people have teased me or acted like they were afraid of me, and before I met Johnny and Jose', I didn't have very many friends. I spent a lot of time alone, and for a while, the school raised a big stink about letting me come to the school; but then things settled down, and I was allowed to go to Eastview Elementary. I still don't have many friends, but at least I have Johnny and Jose' to get me through the bad or rough spots!
What would you do if your friend copped off with the man you loved? Wouldn't it break your heart? Abbie is heartbroken when Richard prefers her lovely French pen friend Colette over her.
